


Dollhouse

by SaltandJinJin



Series: Dollhouse [1]
Category: ATEEZ (Band), GOT7, Monsta X (Band), NCT (Band), SEVENTEEN (Band), Stray Kids (Band), TXT (Korea Band), The Boyz (Korea Band), 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Angst, Betrayal, Blood, Character Death, Comfort, Death, Established Relationship, Fluff, Gore, Horror, Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, Love, Luwoo, M/M, Murder, Murder Mystery, Mystery, Pain, Play along, Sope, Trapped, Yoonseok - Freeform, changlix, game, mansion, markhyuk - Freeform, who is the murderer, yuwin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-21
Updated: 2020-05-05
Packaged: 2020-09-23 14:56:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 21
Words: 43,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20342002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaltandJinJin/pseuds/SaltandJinJin
Summary: A group of idols all find themselves trapped in a mansion with no phone service and no way out. Chaos erupts when they discover that someone is killed every night that they remain there. Thrown into an elaborate game of murder, betrayal, and love, they are forced to discover the identity of the killer among them, or die in the process.Who will make it out alive?Who will be blamed?But, most importantly, who is the murderer?Feel free to play along and guess who the murderer is for yourself as the story progresses and they discover more clues.





	1. Prologue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is something that JinJin and I decided to create in the middle of the night one night. We spent six hours straight planning out just how everything would go down. I sincerely hope that you enjoy this project and have fun trying to guess who the killer is among them as chapters are released.  
Sincerely,  
Salt

The knock on the door nearly startled Seungkwan out of his skin. He was sitting on the sofa watching videos on his phone and he was not about to go and get the door. He decided to ignore it and hope someone else would get it, returning his attention to his phone. Not too long after that, Minghao came waltzing into the room, ready to interrupt Seungkwan’s quiet time once again. The other members were all out at the moment and Minghao usually did his own thing so Seungkwan had made the mistake of thinking that he would actually have some time to himself. 

“Who was that?” Minghao asked, forcing Seungkwan to put down his phone and actually pay attention. 

“I don’t know. I didn’t answer it.”

To give Minghao credit, he didn’t actually ask why. Seungkwan assumed that he had lived with him long enough to know that this was nothing out of the ordinary. Instead of arguing with him or complaining, Minghao simply went to the door himself. Whoever was there hadn’t knocked again and Seungkwan had assumed they had probably left by now, but if his friend was going to check, so be it. 

Minghao opened the door to find that there wasn’t anyone standing on the other side. He looked around for a moment and couldn’t even see any signs that anyone had been there at all. He shrugged and was about to close the door when he noticed something at his feet. He bent down to pick up what seemed to be two letters. 

“Weird,” he muttered to himself. Inspecting them as he closed the door. There was no address on the outside of the envelope and it was clear that it had never been mailed. Whoever had sent it had to have delivered it themselves, but Minghao hadn’t seen anyone outside at all. He felt a chill run down his spine. The only things written on the snow white envelopes were their names, in large intricate lettering. One card held Minghao’s name, and the other, Seungkwan’s.

“What is it?” Seungkwan was now looking over curiously, suddenly interested now that Minghao had walked back in holding something. “I didn’t hear anyone out there. Where did those come from?”

“Someone just . . . left them,” Minghao replied slowly. “I think I’ll turn them in to management. There is no mailing address or anything of the sort on them. Something about this doesn’t feel right.”

Seungkwan was standing now. He walked over to where Minghao was idling by the door to peek at the envelopes in his hands. “Woah are those our names? Creepy.”

Minghao nodded. “Whoever it was seemed to know that we were here alone.” The more Minghao thought about it, the creepier it felt. 

“Well then obviously it's just some of the staff or other members trying to trick us. Who else would know that? It’s not even like they are going to be gone for long so surely it can’t have been pre-planned. Some of them literally just went to the store.”

Minghao thought about that. “You do have a point, but I still feel uneasy about this.”

“It’s just a letter. What harm could it do to read it?” Seungkwan argues, curiosity bubbling over inside of him. 

This time Minghao didn’t need to think before replying. “A lot. It could be someone asking for ransom. A threat. Someone trying to frame us for something. Someone trying to cause a scandal.” Minghao was ready to go on, but Seungkwan put his hands up and interrupted him. 

“Goodness! Point taken. However, if it is something like that we can report it to management immediately. But we could also just be overreacting. The chances of it being someone we know are extremely high. I say we open them. Just to see.” Seungkwan slipped the envelope with his name on it out of his friend’s hands and began to tear it open. 

A part of Minghao wanted to reach out and stop him, but another part was equally as curious. Instead of following suit, he stood and carefully watched his housemate pull a folded piece of paper out of the envelope. Seungkwan didn’t hesitate to open it up and read what was inside. 

“Weird,” he whispered, almost too quiet for Minghao to hear. 

“What is it?” Minghao questioned warily. So far Seungkwan didn’t seemed shocked or appalled so Minghao was still holding out a hope that it really was nothing bad. Instead, his friend simply seemed . . . intrigued. 

“An invitation,” He answered, turning the paper in his hand for Minghao to see. Minghao’s eyes immediately caught on the large lettering a the top, reading “You’re Invited.”

Minghao couldn’t help his curiosity anymore, opening his own envelope and pulling out the paper. He was surprised at just how formal the invitation seemed; it read almost like an invitation for a ball. Minghao allowed his eyes to slowly scan over the words, taking them in. When he finished, he looked back up to meet Seungkwan’s eyes. The other had been staring at him intently, waiting to see his reaction. 

“So,” Seungkwan said with a smile. “What are we wearing?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It should be noted that this story is based off of a murder mystery simulator game. JinJin and I listed off some of our biases in groups and that is how this was born. When we were playing the simulator, even we didn't know who the killer was and were really surprised at the end, so I hope you all have just as much fun trying to guess who it is. Thank you so much for reading!  
Sincerely,  
Salt
> 
> P.S.  
I also want to apologize to all of the idols involved in this because I love them all dearly and saw several irl and feel the guilt every time I write in this lol.


	2. Chapter I: So It Begins

**Day 1**  


\-----------  


\-----------

“Are you sure this is the right place?” Hoseok questioned, glancing sideways at Yoongi. “This doesn’t look like the right place.”

Yoongi shrugged. “I don’t know what you want from me. This is the exact address on the card.”

The pair looked up at the old, seemingly abandoned building. They had done a heck of a lot of walking to get here so if this wasn’t the right place Yoongi was going to just sit down right here and give up. This was exactly where the invitation had directed them to go, Yoongi was confident in that much, but even he had to admit that this place seemed pretty void of life. Well, except for the vines and other various invasive plants growing up around the admittedly giant house. This place pretty much looked like a mansion someone had picked up from another country and dropped off right here to rot like an artifact. 

They had taken a bus to a smaller town not all too far away, but the house they currently stood in front of was on the dead outskirts. It seemed like no one had been to this part of the town in ages and Yoongi was shocked that the address was a house this large considering all of the smaller structures this town seemed to house. It really seemed like an outlier, standing much larger and much taller than the buildings surrounding it. 

“Should we knock . . . ?” Hoseok questioned warily as they walked up to the large, intricate doors. Yoongi looked at him and shrugged again. Hoseok apparently took that as a yes and tentatively reached out to rap on the door. They were met with silence. 

“Well, looks like nobody’s home. Time to go,” Hoseok turned around to leave just as the doors behind him swung open suddenly. Hoseok sighed heavily and turned back around, grabbing Yoongi’s hand for comfort as they walked in to the enormous foyer.

Upon entering it seemed almost as if the doors had opened by themselves as there was no one standing near them. However, that was not to say that they were there alone. Fifteen other faces stared back at them as they walked into the mansion, which Yoongi had to admit was so much nicer on the inside. From the outside it had looked completely abandoned, but it seemed very well kept from the inside. Yoongi could hardly believe it was the same building. 

It didn’t take Yoongi long to realize that everyone that was familiar, but one person caught his eye in particular. 

“Taehyun?”

The younger immediately came running over to them. “You both got invited too? What is this?”

Yoongi opened and closed his mouth a few times before anything came out. “I don’t know.”

He looked up from Taehyun to slowly take in the other guests. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to the people that were invited to this. Chan and Changbin offered him a smile when he looked their way. Hongjoong, Yugyeom, Jooheon, and Jacob all looked like they were lost, being the only ones from their groups there. Seungkwan also offered Yoongi a smile, but Minghao seemed to be in a world of his own, deep in thought. Yoongi was, however, surprised by the large group of people that was Renjun, Donghyuk, Lucas, Jungwoo, Yuta, and Sicheng. Somehow, Yoongi was more confused now than he had been trying to find this place. 

“Does anyone know why we are here?” Yoongi questioned. Everyone seemed to look at each other, but no one immediately volunteered any answers. 

“I got a letter giving me this address. I didn’t think I would come at first, but something compelled me to see if it was even real.” Yugyeom was the first to reply, pulling the folded up invitation out of his pocket. Everyone in the room seemed to follow suit, pulling out their letters. 

“No one here is the one that sent them?” Hoseok asked. Everyone silently shook their heads. “Then who . . . ?”

“And why specifically us?” Taehyun wondered aloud. 

“None of this makes any sense,” Yoongi muttered. 

“G-Guys,” Jacob piped up shakily. Honestly, he was really regretting coming already. The second he saw the place he knew he should probably turn around. He couldn’t stand anything even remotely scary, but Jungwoo and Lucas had gotten there at the same time and prompted him to go in with them. 

As if that wasn’t enough, now Jacob was holding up a shaky arm to point at the doors, which were slowly closing on their own. They had already opened on their own to let him in and he wasn’t all too fond of whatever technology allowed for that. Everyone turned to look just in time to see them close completely. 

“This had better not be like a horror movie where the door locks on its own,” Jooheon says, only half joking. 

Hoseok gulped nervously and Yoongi squeezed his hand to comfort him. “Let’s see,” Yoongi replied, turning to tug on the doorknob. Everyone waited in silent anticipation. The doorknob rattled under Yoongi’s touch but the door didn’t open. He tried again. He felt pure fear rush through his system. He turned around slowly and when he did, his face was entirely drained of color. “It’s . . . actually locked.” Full chaos erupted. 

“What do you mean it’s locked?” Lucas complained loudly. 

“I was joking!” Jooheon squeaked. 

Donghyuk laughed awkwardly. “Don’t mess with us.”

Yoongi shook his head, pretending he wasn’t already shivering violently himself. “I’m being serious. It won’t open.”

“This is ridiculous!” Seungkwan yelled. 

“This has to be some elaborate prank,” Renjun reasoned. 

“No,” Hongjoong said, shaking his head. “Something is very wrong.”

"Let me try,” Seungkwan asserted, marching over to tug on the door for himself. He had no more luck and Yoongi would have been insulted that they didn’t believe him if he was a little less terrified. 

“It’s okay, surely there’s another way out,” Chan reasoned, trying to calm everyone down like the leader he was. 

“I agree that we shouldn't panic,” Hongjoong agreed. “But we all probably should find a way out of here. Whoever invited us here still has not presented themselves and I am getting a really bad feeling the longer we stay here.”

“What about the windows?” Jungwoo wisely suggested. He was met with wide response of varied “oh yeah,”s and “I didn’t think about that.”

Yuta took it upon himself to try and open one of the windows. No matter how hard he tried, it wouldn’t budge. “Locked,” he sighed. “Of course it’s locked.”

“Smash it!” Lucas encouraged. Everyone was clearly getting antsy and honestly just anxious to get out. They still didn’t know why they were even there and honestly, none of them cared anymore. 

“Shouldn’t we try to find other ways out before doing something so dramatic?” Renjun rushed to ask. 

Lucas made a face like he hadn't thought of that before. “Right.”

“Are you suggesting that we split up in a creepy house we have never been in before?” Yugyeom asked skeptically. 

“A creepy house that just locked us in,” Donghyuk added helpfully. 

“What else do you suggest?” Renjun shot back. “That we just wait here and hope the host comes out and welcomes us? I think I’d rather get out of here before I figure out who that even is now.”

They all reluctantly agreed to search the house and then meet back in the foyer to report what they found. Most of the boys split off into small groups, but Hongjoong chose to stay by himself. He still didn’t know what was going on, but he had a really bad feeling about every part of this. Obviously someone had to have invited them here and he wasn’t sure he trusted everyone else here when they claimed it wasn't them. 

Or, at least, Hongjoong’s plan was to explore alone. The others had all slowly made their way out of the foyer, everyone else except for Jacob. The boy looked at him like a hurt puppy, lost and scared. It became increasingly clear that he was easily frightened and he wasn’t particularly close with anyone here. 

Hongjoong sighed. “You can stick with me,” he offered walking over to Jacob. The boy smiled at him gratefully and nodded. Hongjoong could tell by the look on his face that he wasn’t going to leave his side any time soon. So much for not trusting anyone. 

“This is ridiculous,” Yuta complained in exasperation, tugging on the back door with all of his might. “Every door has been locked.”

“And the windows,” Sicheng added with a sigh. 

“There is no way we are really trapped in here,” Renjun huffed. “I mean, how is all of this even possible?”

“Right?” Donghyuk agreed. “How could the door have just closed and locked like that on it’s own? How did it know we were all inside?”

“It could have been timed,” Jungwoo reasoned. “The invitations had a time on them they seemed to close only shortly after Yoongi and Hoseok arrived and they were right on time.”

“Does that mean there are others who could have been late?” Lucas asked like any of them knew the answer to that. “Maybe they can help get us out!”

“I sure hope so,” Yuta sighed. 

“I think we have checked everything we can,” Renjun sighed as Yuta tried tugging on the door one final time. “We should probably head back.”

“Maybe there’s like a fire escape or something upstairs,” Sicheng offered hopefully. 

“It’s a mansion, not an apartment building, but yeah, that would be nice,” Renjun replied. 

It wasn’t long before everyone was filing back into the foyer, similar looks of disappointment on their faces. Yuta had hoped that maybe they simply missed something, but it seemed that no one else had any luck either. 

“Is now an okay time to try and smash the windows?” Seungkwan asked. “Because I am really feeling the urge.”

Everyone seemed to look between each other, seemingly coming to the same conclusion. “You know what, go for it,” Hongjoong spoke up, voicing everyone’s thoughts. “I think we are desperate enough now.”

Seungkwan didn’t hesitate for a moment, running away and coming back with a chair from the dining room. Yuta got the feeling that he had been planning this from the moment he saw those chairs. He ran up to the nearest window and took a swing the best that he could. Everyone watched in anticipation as the chair hit the window. What they didn’t expect was for it to bounce back. Seungkwan turned to the rest of the guests with a look that said _what just happened_? 

“Um, try again?” Jungwoo suggested. And so he did. Seungkwan took another swing at the glass and the same thing happened. This time he set the chair down and spun to face the others. 

“Okay this clearly isn’t working and I don’t know why,” he complained. 

“It’s _glass_,” Minghao stressed. “Why wouldn’t it break?”

“Maybe it’s bulletproof,” Yugyeom said with a shrug. Everyone turned to look at him. 

“Why would there be bulletproof glass in the windows of a mansion?” Taehyun asked.

“Why would someone invite us all here and lock us in?” Yugyeom replied, and he had a point. Nothing in this situation really made sense. 

“So the windows are made of bulletproof glass and every door leading outside is locked. This house is out of the way so it is extremely unlikely that someone is simply going to stumble upon it to save us. I have also tried to get ahold of just about everyone in my contacts but there is absolutely no signal here. Can someone please tell me that they found something else helpful in this house?” Yoongi sounded like he had completely given up hope and Yuta couldn’t blame him. He had his arm wrapped around Sicheng’s waist, holding him close like he was going to disappear. He was becoming more terrified by the second and his only solace right now was that he at least still had his boyfriend by his side. 

“Actually,” Hongjoong piped up. “There was a computer in the library, but I couldn’t get it to turn on, even though it was plugged in.”

“I also noticed that there was only one door in the house that was locked. I could open every other one, except for the ones that lead outside,” Jooheon added. 

“That’s eerie,” Changbin replied. 

Yoongi sighed. “Well, I suppose we still have upstairs.” No one seemed all too excited about that. It was really beginning to set in that they were trapped there. Their chances of escaping were growing smaller by the second.

Yuta, pretty much on the verge of a mental breakdown, took a moment to really take in his surroundings and process everything that was going on. Someone had invited all of them to this mansion only to lock them inside. They still didn’t know why and there didn’t seem to be any reason as to why the specific people that were there were chosen. The mansion looked completely abandoned from the outside, but like it had been well maintained from the inside. 

Upon walking in, all guests were met with a large foyer. Directly foreward sat a semicircle of sofas facing an intricate fireplace. On either side of that were stairs that wrapped around the outline of the room to lead to the second floor, a railing lining the stairs and creating a banister for the floor above. To the left there was an arch leading into the dining room. From there, there was another open doorway leading into the kitchen that was rather suspiciously stocked with enough food to last an entire family several months. To the right of the foyer was a large bathroom, a door that could not be opened and a large library with a computer that didn’t even work. 

Yuta sighed and looked at everyone standing here with him. Yoongi had one hand to his head as if he had a terrible headache, the other still clutching Hoseok’s for dear life. Yuta was pretty sure he had not seen one of them let go since they entered. Taehyun had also kept close to them ever since they arrived and was currently fiddling nervously with his hands at Hoseok’s side. Minghao was looking around as if still scanning his surroundings and Seungkwan was glaring at the window like he could shatter it with his gaze alone. Chan had his hand on Changbin’s shoulder as if to reassure him and Yuta couldn’t help but smile at how motherly it seemed.

Jungwoo was clutching at Lucas’s shirt for dear life, the other rubbing circles on his back. They had stuck close with Yuta and Sicheng along with Renjun and Donghyuk who were currently arguing in hushed tones. Yuta was incredibly grateful that he at least had his other group members here with him. He felt awful for the ones that were here alone. Yugyeom stood off on his own, arms crossed while Jooheon seemed to stick close to whoever he could. Jacob had also seemed to attach himself to Hongjoong and Yuta wondered when that had happened. 

“So are we going to go and look upstairs together then?” Yuta questioned, breaking the momentary silence that had filled the room. 

Hongjoong nodded. “That seems like a good idea.”

Quietly and somewhat dejectedly they all climbed the stairs to the upper floor of the mansion they were all trapped in. When they reached the top, they could see that the upper level was split into the two hallways, one leading to the left and the other to the right. They didn't have to go far before they saw what was wrong. 

“Is that . . . is that my name on that door?” Seungkwan asked shakily pointing to a door that did, indeed, have a name plate displaying both his and Minghao’s names. He was as pale as a ghost and everyone else could feel the fear settling in the atmosphere. 

“What does that mean?” Lucas asked like anyone knew the answer. 

“If their names are here . . . does that mean the rest of ours are too?” Chan questioned. Everyone seemed to share a collective look of fear before splitting off to search the hallways. 

Several yelps of distress and gasps were heard echoing through the house as every single one of the guests found their names on a door. Not a single one of them was missing and there was no person unaccounted for. They all gathered into a group again, too afraid to open any of the doors. 

“What is this?” Renjun inquired shakily. 

“Who would do this?” Jungwoo added. 

“And how did they know that every single one of us would come?” Changbin asked, further unnerving everyone there.

“There were really no names of people that aren’t here?” Taehyun questioned. 

Yugyeom shook his head. “Everyone single name is of a person here.”

“I don’t think I can express how terrified I am right now,” Donghyuk complained. 

Hoseok was clinging to Yoongi, shaking like a leaf. “What is going on?” he whimpered hopelessly to his significant other. “Who would do this?”

Yoongi rubbed his arm comfortingly and tried to calm him down, even though he was panicking himself. “Shhhhh. It’s going to be okay. I don’t know what’s going on but we are going to be okay.”

Jacob felt his body shivering violently as tears silently slid down his face. He couldn’t even watch horror movies when he was home with everyone he loved and now he was trapped here. He didn’t know who was doing this or what was going on, but he wanted to go home and curl up in his bed, where he was safe. 

In the midst of the chaos, Minghao had decided to throw caution to the wind and slowly opened the door with his and Seungkwan’s names on it. He peeked inside and saw that it was a bedroom. Two beds, perfectly made, lay against the wall with a few bedside tables and a chair in the far corner. It almost looked like a hotel room, ready for people to stay in it. Minghao shivered at the thought that someone had prepared this just for them. 

“Woah!” Seungkwan shouted, gaining everyone’s attention. “What’s inside?” Everyone turned to see that Minghao had opened one of the doors and they all crowded around to see what was on the other side. 

“A bedroom?” Chan said in question. 

“Whoever invited us here never planned on us leaving, did they?” Changbin realized aloud. 

“No,” Minghao said, stepping back and closing the door. “No they didn’t.”

“What . . . what do we do?” Taehyun asked warily. 

“Well,” Yugyeom began. “We are all trapped here with no way of escape and there are specific rooms set aside for all of us. It doesn't really seem like we have a choice here.”

“Are you suggesting we just stay here?” Donghyuk replied, mouth agape. 

“What else are we supposed to do?” Yugyeom answered with a shrug. “We already tried to escape with every means possible. There’s nothing else left for us to do but play along.”

Yuta laughed dryly. “Surely people will notice we are missing.”

“But will they know where to find us?” Jungwoo questioned. He didn’t like the looks he was getting from everyone; he felt chilled. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but we didn’t tell anyone where we were going.” He looked to Lucas at the last statement. 

If possible, the mood seemed to sour even more. “Really?” Seungkwan said sounding almost hysterical. “No one told anyone they were coming here?”

“Something is so wrong about everything that is going on,” Hongjoong said, holding a hand to his head as if he had a headache. “How could the host have known that everyone they invited was going to show up? And that they weren’t going to tell anyone where they were going? Whoever did this is way smarter than I think any of us can account for and I have no idea what they want.”

“So we’re really just . . . staying here?” Hoseok cautioned softly. 

“It’s all we can do,” Yugyeom said, all edge to his voice gone. 

“Is it wrong that I am hungry?” Lucas interjected, hand on his stomach. 

As if the mere mention of food triggered it, Jungwoo’s stomach growled. He laughed awkwardly. “Me too.”

Renjun sighed and shook his head. “You two really were made for each other.”

“There is actually a lot of food in the kitchen,” Changbin replied. “It seems like it was meant to last us a long time.”

“There is no way I am eating food from this place,” Yugyeom said.

“Well I didn’t eat before coming. I kind of want food too,” Donghyuk added. 

“How are you still hungry even after knowing that we are trapped in here?” Yuta asks incredulously. 

“If anything, seeing all of that food is what made me hungry,” Chan argued. 

Hongjoong sighed. “Why don’t we all head down to the dining room? Regardless of whether or not we eat, we can talk things over.”

They all agreed and soon found themselves seated at the giant dining table. There weren’t enough seats for all of them so a few had to stand, but they didn’t mind too much. Some of the boys had grabbed food out of the kitchen and were happily munching on it while others wouldn’t even go near it. 

“This all feels so surreal,” Yuta breathed. “Like some sick dream that I should be waking up from any minute.” Everyone seemed to nod in silent agreement. He was standing in the corner with Sicheng still at his side. They both refused to eat, but they weren’t very hungry anyways. 

“Maybe we should go over everything that has happened,” Yugyeom suggested. “That might help some of the chaos of all of this dissipate.”

Donghyuk doubted that, but he was willing to play along anyways. He took a big bite out of the apple he had grabbed before speaking. “I was getting ready to leave the Dream dorms and go back to my own when I noticed that there were two envelopes outside of the door. I picked them up and one had my name on it. The other had Renjun’s. We were the only ones in the dorm at the time so I walked back inside and handed him the one with his name on it. They were invitations with this address on them.” Donghyuk pulled a folded up invitation out of his pocket as proof. “After that we pretty much just headed here. We figured it must have been a prank or something the staff had set up, but, well . . .” He didn’t feel like he needed to continue. A part of him still hoped that this was just some elaborate joke, or maybe a hidden camera, but the longer it went on, the less likely it seemed. 

“Weird,” Jooheon mumbled, mouth full of chips. “It was almost exactly the same for me.” He swallowed the food in his mouth, continuing. “I was at the dorm alone when someone slid a letter under the door with my name on it. I opened the door to see who left it, but there was no one there.”

“Wait, I was alone too,” Hongjoong added. A low mumble ran through the guests. He looked between each and every one of them and he didn’t like what he saw. 

“Were we all alone when we got the letters?” He was met with a chorus of responses in the affirmative. 

“And it is already clear whoever set this up already knew who they were going to invite if the nameplates on the bedroom doors are any indication,” Yugyeom added. 

“How could they have known that we would all be alone?” Yoongi asked.

“And at the same time,” Minghao added. A silence fell over the room as everyone thought about it. No one liked where their minds wandered. 

“We should continue with what happened after we got here,” Yugyeom prompted. “Who was the first here?”

“That . . . would be me,” Jooheon replied. “It looked like no one was home so I was ready to leave, but the doors opened so I let myself in. It couldn’t have been more than a few minutes later that Minghao and Seungkwan arrived.”

“We all just kind of hung around as people got here, talking to each other. No one seemed to know more than anyone else,” Seungkwan explained. Unlike some of the other guests, he actually chewed his food before speaking. He wasn’t sure about eating at first, but all of the food in the kitchen was simply calling his name. 

“And once we all made it, the doors closed and locked us in,” Changbin finished. “But that doesn’t really help us with anything. We still know nothing and now we have to stay here overnight.”

Yoongi sighed. “There is nothing we can do about it. No matter how terrifying this all is we really have no choice. That’s not even to talk about how deeply unsettling it is that the rooms have our names on them.”

The room was quiet save for the sound of sniffling. Everyone looked over slowly to see Jacob hanging his head. He was sitting at one end of the table, more or less alone. Hongjoong was close to him as Jacob seemed to have claimed him, but the boy was more or less alone from the moment he walked through the intricate doors. 

He glanced up and noticed that all eyes were on him. He tried to smile, but it was shaky at best and quickly fell from his face. He wiped at the tears that had escaped his eyes. “I’m sorry,” he barely managed to mumble. He couldn’t help how overwhelmed he was feeling. He was sure everyone else was terrified too, but he didn’t know how to handle all of this, and alone, at that. “I don’t think I feel very good.” He was being honest. He didn’t want to burden them, but he truly felt sick. 

“Maybe we should all go to our rooms,” Sicheng suggested lightly. 

Everyone seemed to agree. Though certainly no one was all too keen on having to stay at this house at all, they were at least somewhat happy to have some time to think about what was happening. Hongjoong didn’t like anything about the situation they were in. His gut instincts were telling him to run, but he knew he couldn’t; there was no escape. Instead, he did his best to memorize the layout of the building so that he could figure out a plan to get them all out of here. 

Once ascending one of the two staircases that wrapped around the foyer, the halls split into a left and right-hand side. He was the first room to the right, followed by Donghyuk and Renjun, Yoongi and Hoseok, Jooheon, and Changbin and Chan, respectively. The rooms on the left ordered Minghao and Seugkwan, Yugyeom, Jacob, Yuta and Sicheng, Taehyun, and Lucas and Jungwoo, once more respectively with Minghao and Seungkwan being the closest to the stairs. 

Hongjoong shut himself in his room to await nightfall when he could sneak out to do some more exploring, actually on his own this time. He was especially curious about the door that wouldn’t open on the first floor. As far as they knew, it could be a way out, or at least something useful to them all. None of this was to say that he didn’t like Jacob. He was actually happy to be there for the other, as he was terrified of even the smallest things and was all by himself in the mansion. Hongjoong didn’t understand how he was brave enough to come here on his own in the first place.

Hongjoong sat down on the bed and thought very carefully about the behavior of all of the guests. They all claimed their own innocence, but Hongjoong still wasn’t entirely convinced. Honestly, he was sure that the person who brought them all here was among them. There wasn’t necessarily anything anyone had done that had made him doubt them, but he had a gut feeling that told him he shouldn’t trust everyone here. 

Jooheon, Minghao, Seungkwan, Yugyeom, Jacob, Jungwoo, and Lucas had all already been in the mansion when he got there. Minghao was standing close to Seungkwan, looking around skeptically as the shorter talked to Jooheon and Yugyeom about why they were all there. Lucas greeted him when he entered and Jungwoo temporarily tried to comfort Jacob who already looked as if he felt uncomfortable there. Hongjoong had joined the conversation regarding their invitations to the building and carefully watched as guests arrived, trying to figure out if there was any pattern to who was invited. 

No one seemed particularly suspicious, but that didn’t keep Hongjoong from keeping a careful watch over them anyways. Yuta and Yugyeom seemed to take charge in trying to keep everyone calm and organized. Sicheng mostly just stuck silently to Yuta’s side, only occasionally speaking up. Minghao hadn’t said much either, often wandering around on his own, though he did seem to stick close to Seungkwan. Yoongi also seemed to want to help the group, but he also spent a lot of time trying to keep Hoseok calm, as he was almost as terrified as Jacob. Taeyhun also seemed to stick to the pair. 

If not for Hongjoong taking him under his wing, Jacob likely would have spent his time wandering around on his own. Hongjoong could tell that he was barely able to handle the situation and he was honestly surprised that he had not broken down sooner. Seungkwan and Lucas seemed to be a little more on the chaotic side and Hongjoong couldn’t help but feel like they were willing to do almost anything to get out of there. Jungwoo mostly stuck by Lucas or the other NCT members, but something in Hongjoong told him that he could handle himself. Renjun also seemed to want to help figure things out, offering up any information he felt necessary.

As for Jooheon. Donghyuk, Changbin, and Chan, well, they hadn’t really done much. Donghyuk seemed to like aimlessly quarrelling, especially with Renjun. Jooheon had offered up some useful information and he was the first to arrive. Changbin seemed like he was still trying to process everything that was happening and Chan seemed to be acting as a mother, occasionally making sure he, and everyone else, was okay. 

Everyone seemed innocent enough, but Hongjoong didn’t know who was telling the truth and who was deceiving them all. They all really could be innocent and he could be completely wrong, but something in him just felt so sure. He lie on his bed, simply thinking, trying to figure out what could be going on, until night finally fell. It didn’t take long as the sun was already setting when they all headed up to their rooms. 

Hongjoong ran a hand through his hair, rising from the bed. He knew that nighttime was his chance to look around while everyone else was sleeping. He gave himself a little more time, just so he could be sure the others were asleep before he actually decided to set out. In this time, he allowed himself to wonder what everything was like outside. Had his group members realized he was missing? The staff? Were they looking for him?

“Don’t worry,” he whispered to himself. “I’ll find a way out of here. Hopefully before anything worse happens.”

With that, Hongjoong stood and headed to the door. He barely had to open it to see that someone was waiting for him on the other side. His eyes widened and he gasped, but that’s all he could do before he felt something sharp being pulled across his throat. He opened his mouth to try and speak, to mouth his betrayal, trying to ignore the pain he knew was killing him, but he was unable to force anything out. 

He fell limply foreward into his murderer’s arms, wishing he had never come here. Images of all of his friends, the other members, flashing before his eyes. All he could think before the world finally faded out of focus was _I’m sorry_. 

“This is stupid!” Donghyuk complained loudly, turning from the window. It was already dark outside and he felt an intense frustration building up inside of him. “I didn’t even tell Mark where I was going! He is going to kill me when we get out of here!”

“Yeah,” Renjun replied in a monotone voice, not looking up from where he sat on one of the two perfectly made beds in the room. He didn’t even look up from his phone. “If that food doesn’t kill you first. I’m not entirely sure it wasn’t poisoned.”

“Oh shut up,” Donghyuk replied, wishing he had something to throw at his roommate. “I’m not the only one who ate it. Plus, why would someone trap us here only to poison us with the food?”

Renjun shrugged, still not looking up. “Why would anyone trap us here at all?”

At this point, Donghyuk was getting even more annoyed at the fact that Renjun wasn’t paying any attention to him. He jumped onto his friend’s bed, simply trying to annoy him. “What are you even doing on that thing? There is no service here.”

Renjun finally looked up to meet Donghyuk’s eyes, clicking his tongue in annoyance. He turned his phone for the younger to see. “I’m keeping a log of everything that happens here. Just in case.”

“Just in case what?” Donghyuk asked, genuinely curious.

Renjun just shrugged and went back to typing. “I don’t know. In case something happens to me, I guess. I already turned off the passcode.”

“Well aren’t you just full of positivity,” Donghyuk huffed, moving to sit on the empty bed. 

Renjun didn’t talk to him anymore after that and Donghyuk stopped trying to make conversation. Instead, he sat and stared at the ceiling until his friend fell asleep. Donghyuk didn’t like sleeping on a normal day, so there was no way he was going down easy here. He crawled under the covers, which were surprisingly comfortable, and hummed quietly to himself. 

He thought about how worried Mark would be by tomorrow, how worried all of the other members would be. He didn’t mean to leave them like this, none of them did. He couldn’t help but to feel guilty. Yuta and Sicheng had come together, as well as Lucas and Jungwoo, but Donghyuk hadn’t even told Mark where he was going. What kind of boyfriend was he? Maybe if he was a better one, Mark would have already come and saved them all by now. 

Donghyuk sighed and picked up his phone from where he had discarded it on the bedside table. He decided it was more or less useless to him now, so he might as well just leave it wherever he wanted. Even still, Donghyuk opened up the message function and went to his most recent chat with Mark. He smiled sadly when he read through the messages. 

❤️**Mark**❤️  
_Where are you?_  
_You were supposed to be here 15 minutes ago_  
_Hyuk I swear_

**Fullsun**☀️  
_Hush_  
_I’m almost there_  
_You better have already ordered for me_  
_You know what I want._

❤️**Mark**❤️  
_You know I did_  
_Now hurry up_  
_I’m lonely_  
_And hungry_

**Fullsun**☀️  
_Yeah yeah_

Donghyuk laughed a little when he read it. Mark had taken him out for lunch earlier that day and Donghyuk had definitely forgotten that he agreed to it until it was almost too late. He felt his heart ache with longing. He hated that he was stuck here. Not only was he not with Mark, but the other had no idea where he was. A part of Donghyuk still hoped that Mark would come and save him, be his knight in shining armor, but he knew it wasn’t going to happen. He smiled sadly and sent out one more message, even if he knew it wouldn’t go through.

**Fullsun**☀️  
_I love you_

Donghyuk sighed and set the phone back on the nightstand. He snuggled further into the covers, finally ready to at least try and get some sleep, when he heard the sound of a door opening. It wasn’t necessarily loud, but Donghyuk was already awake and it was completely silent save for the sound. He thought about just ignoring it, he really did, but he couldn’t help his curiosity.

Sliding out of bed, Donghyuk crept as quietly as he could to the door. He opened it and stepped into the hallway. It didn’t take him long to figure out what door had opened when he looked over and saw that Hongjoong’s door was ajar. Donghyuk frowned, wondering what he could be doing so late at night. He had already taken off his shoes to sleep, so Donghyuk’s steps made nary a sound as he padded softly to Hongjoong’s room. 

Donghyuk didn’t have to look for long to see that something was wrong. Hongjoong seemed to be laying in bed, but the covers weren’t on him and his body was contorted strangely in a way that certainly couldn’t be comfortable. Donghyuk didn’t stop to wonder who could have opened the door if he was still asleep on the bed. Instead, he wandered closer to the bed, both curious and frightened. 

However, he didn’t make it far. He had only taken a few more steps forward when he felt an arm wrap tightly around him. He opened his mouth to scream, but found that he was too late. A cold, sharp metal cut cleanly through his neck and all that came out of his mouth was a choked sob as he keeled over. The pain was over almost as quickly as it was there. And after that, there was nothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any suspects yet? If so, please feel free to share ^^


	3. Chapter II: Among Us

**Day 2**  


\-----------  


\-----------

Changbin stretched his arms as he woke up, reveling in how comfortable his bed was. When he opened his eyes, it took him a moment to remember that he wasn’t home and his real bed wasn’t even this comfortable. He wasn’t sure how he had managed to forget this terrifying situation, even if he had only just woken up. He groaned and threw himself back onto the bed, pulling the blanket over his head. Maybe if he just pretended the rest of the world wasn’t there he could just stay here, safe and sound, until someone rescued him. 

This charade didn’t end up lasting long as Changbin quickly realized he couldn’t go back to sleep and there was no point of simply lying there otherwise. He groaned and threw the blankets off, basically rolling out of the bed. He looked to the bed in front of him to see Chan balled up in the blankets not unlike he had just been. Changbin gave his friend a good shake to wake him up before taking a step back to observe the mess that was Chan. The older sat up slowly and looked around in confusion before finally finding Changbin. Changbin laughed at the pure confusion etched into his face. 

“Forget already?” Changbin asked.

Chan looked around once more before realization washed over his expression. “Oh.” The sadness in his voice hit Changbin hard. They were still here, trapped. 

Chan slid himself out of the bed, brushing his fingers through his messy hair, doing the same to Changbin. Changbin shook him off and patted down his hair in mock offense. “I’m fine, mom.”

“Sleep well?” Chan asked him, fixing his bed for unknown reasons. It wasn’t like it really mattered. 

Changbin shrugged. “It was surprisingly comfortable considering it’s a bed in a creepy mansion that we are all trapped in.” Chan laughed dryly at that response. “It was difficult getting to sleep without anything to cuddle though,” he admitted quietly. 

“Are you talking about your plush or Felix?” Chan questioned with an ornery smile. 

“Why must you be like this?” Changbin combated with a sigh. 

“What? You don’t miss your boyfriend?” Chan teased.

Changbin pouted and looked away. “Of course I do. I am worried sick about where he thinks I am, but there isn’t anything I can do. I just hope we can find a way out of here today.”

He looked back up to see Chan nodding with a sad smile. “I hope so too.” He sighed, but put his hand on Changbin’s shoulder reassuringly as the younger looked down dejectedly. “Hey, it will be okay.” Changbin looked up to him and offered a weak smile. 

“Okay.”

“Now, how about we head down to the foyer and see if anyone else is awake?” Changbin nodded silently in response.

The two made their way out of their rooms and down the steps into the foyer where several of the other guests were already waiting. Jungwoo, Lucas, Yuta, and Sicheng were all squished onto one of the sofas, talking amongst themselves. Minghao, Yugyeom, Jacob and Taehyun were also scattered about the room, keeping mostly to themselves. They all turned to politely greet Changbin and Chan as they joined them. 

“I’m beginning to think the food wasn’t poisoned after all,” Yugyeom joked. “That’s three people now who ate it and lived to see the dawn.”

“Ha ha,” Chan replied sarcastically, but he was smiling at the lighthearted nature of the comment. 

The two hadn’t been down stairs long before Renjun came wandering down with a somewhat worried look on his face. Changbin raised his hand to wave at the younger, but lowered it when he realized he wasn’t looking at him. Renjun looked between everyone in the foyer, his frown deepening. He finally made it all the way down the stairs and by now everyone was curious as to what had upset him. 

“Have any of you seen Donghyuk?” he asked, still looking around as if he had missed him. Everyone looked between each other searching for answers. It seemed that no one had any. 

Sicheng shook his head. “No, sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it too much,” Lucas reassured him. “Jungwoo was gone when I woke up and I about had a heart attack, but I came down here to see him sitting on the couch alone.” Jungwoo laughed awkwardly in what seemed to be an apology. 

“Yeah,” Taehyun agreed. “He probably just went to the bathroom or something. I’m sure he’ll turn up sooner or later.”

Renjun sighed and plopped himself down in an empty seat. “You’re probably right. But you can’t blame me for being on edge in a situation like this.” They all hummed in agreement. 

It didn’t take long for more guests to slowly amble their way down the stairs. Jooheon looked like he was still half asleep, almost tumbling down the steps. Seungkwan was upset that Minghao had left him alone, but he seemed to get over it quickly. It took a little longer for Hoseok and Yoongi to make their way to the foyer. 

“Oh thank goodness you are down here,” Hoseok breathed, running over to hug Taehyun. 

“I got tired of waiting for you and Yoongi to wake up,” Taehyun replied, pulling away from the embrace. 

“You stayed in the same room?” Yugyeom questioned. 

“Taehyun came into our room last night and asked if he could sleep there,” Yoongi explained.

Taehyun crossed his arms and looked at the ground. “It’s scary being trapped here, okay? I didn’t want to be alone.”

“That seems perfectly reasonable to me,” Yuta replied. “This is a scary situation. I wouldn’t want to be alone either.”

More time passed and Renjun’s worry only grew. He took some solace in the fact that Donghyuk wasn’t the only one who still wasn’t with them, but it wasn’t much. Even Jacob, who was actually making conversation with the other guests, seemed concerned as he kept glancing to the staircase. Whereas Hongjoong could still be sleeping, Donghyuk had just been straight up missing for a while now. 

“Okay, I’m hungry,” Jungwoo announced. 

Sicheng laughed. “Of course you are.”

“Well, at least we know the food doesn’t kill us now,” Yuta reasoned. “Why don’t we get something to eat?”

Everyone seemed to like the idea of that, and even Renjun had to admit that he was hungry. However, he couldn’t in good conscience just give up on waiting for Donghyuk like that. 

“Wait,” he called out as the group had begun to file into the dining room. “Donghyuk still hasn’t come downstairs.”

This seemed to grab everyone’s attention. “Neither has Hongjoong,” Jacob spoke up. “Maybe we should go and get them.”

“Alright,” Yuta agreed. “Maybe Donghyuk can help with cooking once you find him. For now, we’ll get things started.” He turned to the other guests. “Now, who here is a good cook?”

Yoongi was the first to volunteer his cooking abilities and a small group assembled to head upstairs in search of the missing guests. The group consisted of Renjun, Jacob, and Sicheng. 

“We should probably go and see if Hongjoong is awake first,” Sicheng reasoned and they ascended the staircase. “And then we can worry about hunting down Donghyuk.”

“Fair,” Renjun replied. 

The three made their way to Hongjoong’s door and Jacob gave it a tentative knock. There was no reply. Renjun stepped closer and knocked harder. Still nothing. 

“Should we just go in?” Jacob asked softly.

Renjun shrugged. “I guess so.” And, with that, Renjun turned the handle and slowly swung the door open. 

Minghao is idling near the archway leading into the dining room when he hears the screaming. He immediately straightens and turns his head towards the noise before looking back to the rest of the guests in the dining room. No one had to say anything; there was nothing to be said. They all simply rushed upstairs to see just what had happened. 

Since he was the closest to the stairs, Minghao was the first to see Jacob, Renjun, and Sicheng standing outside of the doorway to Hongjoong’s room, frozen in shock. Yuta rushed past him and to Sicheng. He turned the other to look at him. 

“What’s wrong? Are you okay?” he asked, concern dripping from his words. Sicheng swallowed hard and shook his head. A deep sorrow and fear settled in his heart and he didn’t know what to do. So he let out a sob and fell into Yuta who wrapped his arms around him comfortingly. 

Yuta was surprised, but he softly stroked his boyfriend’s hair, trying to calm him down as he cried into his shoulder. “It’s okay,” Yuta whispered, even if he didn’t know if everything really was okay. 

“It’s . . .” Sicheng began, but he had to take a deep breath and try again before he got anything else out. “It’s Donghyuk.” This response immediately alarmed Yuta, but he couldn’t just let go of Sicheng in a moment like this. 

While chaos erupted as people rushed up the stairs and Jacob started to rack with sobs. Minghao dared to creep closer to the open doorway. He was terrified of what he would see on the other side, but he let his curiosity get the best of him. He reached the entrance just as Renjun rushed inside, finally snapping out of his initial state of shock. 

Minghao looked in to see him rushing to the chair that sat in the far right hand corner or the room where someone seemed to be sitting, slightly slouched. It didn’t take Minghao long to see that it was Donghyuk, but there was something terribly wrong with the entire scene. His arms were draped over the arms of the chair, as if he was sitting comfortably, but Minghao’s eyes quickly made their way to the bright red that was staining the younger’s shirt. The blood seemed to have come from the clean cut on Donghyuk’s neck. 

Minghao felt his hand come up to cover his mouth at the scene. He was dead. Donghyuk was dead. Renjun was sobbing, touching Donghyuk’s face so carefully as if it was still possible to hurt him further. He could hear the younger brokenly whisper “no” multiple times over and Minghao had to take a deep breath to keep from breaking down. He let his eyes move to the other side of the room and to the bed. 

It became immediately evident that Donghyuk was not the only casualty they had faced. From afar, it almost seemed like Hongjoong was simply sleeping, but Minghao knew better. He was tucked into the covers, and looked to be sleeping peacefully, but the blood staining the bright white of the blankets and the wound on his neck said otherwise. 

Minghao took several steps back from the doorway, back hitting the wall. He watched as people screamed, cried, and ran into the room, but he found that he couldn’t move. None of this was real. None of this could be real. 

Taehyun’s entire body shook with fear. He wanted to run, he wanted to scream. Instead, he stared at the sight before him in horror. The other members of NCT were crying over Donghyuk’s body and Hongjoong lie alone in the bed. He had come alone and had done nothing but try to help them escape. He didn’t deserve this. Neither of them did. Taehyun felt tears falling down his cheeks, but he didn’t know if they were out of sorrow or fear. 

Renjun held Donghyuk’s face in his hands, tears spilling out of his eyes. “No,” he mumbled brokenly. “This can’t be happening.” The other members stood around him, sobbing just as hard; Lucas, Jungwoo, Sicheng, Yuta. However, Renjun couldn’t help but to feel that this was all somehow his fault. If only he had heard Donghyuk leave the room, maybe this wouldn’t have happened. He could have stopped him. He could have saved him. But now he was looking at the corpse of his friend, lifeless underneath his touch. 

Jooheon ripped his eyes away from the gruesome sight, at the sound of an intercom clicking on. He had not noticed the building having an intercom system, but he was too out of it to question it too much at the moment. Only static could be heard resonating throughout the room, serving only to amplify the fear steadily growing in the pit of Jooheon’s stomach. Everyone else seemed to look around in a state of confusion and fear. It wasn’t long before the static cleared up and something far more ominous rang through the room.

A deep laugh echoed through the room bouncing into the halls so that even Minghao could hear it clearly. “It seems you have found your first bodies!” The voice sang happily. It was immediately evident that a voice changer was being used with the deep, unnatural tone that emanated from the intercom system. “This is when the real fun begins.” 

“_Fun_!?” Seungkwan screeched incredulously, but the voice payed him no mind. 

“It’s about time you finally understand just what is going on here. Now that your friends are dead, you likely know that there is a murder here, but were you aware that he is among you?”

Lucas swallowed hard, shivering violently. “_What_?” he barely managed to whisper in abject fear. 

The voice laughed again, disgustingly delighted. “That’s right. I am one of you. And that’s where the game begins.”

“Game?” Yugyeom spat, livid. “This is sick!”

“You are all trapped here with a murderer among you. Someone will die every night. Your goal? Escape alive, obviously. But to do that, you first need to figure out who the murderer is. You have the entire day after finding the body to search for clues. At night, you must vote on who you believe the murder is. You may have noticed that you all have bracelets on your wrists with handy little touchscreens. These are relevant for several reasons.”

Jungwoo looked down to his wrist in alarm. He hadn’t noticed a bracelet there earlier and he knew he didn’t come in with one on, but, sure enough, there was one tightly fastened to his left wrist. Immediately he panicked and tried to tug at it only to find that it wasn’t going to budge. How on earth had it even gotten there?

“These bracelets are what will allow you to vote. At precisely eight o’clock every night you will be able to switch between guests’ pictures on the screen to choose who you wish to vote for. The guest with the most votes will be executed. You see, these lovely bracelets can also release an electric shock strong enough to kill. Let this also be your motivation not to try and escape before discovering the killer. If you make it outside of the grounds before the game is over or try to tamper with the bracelet . . . well, I think you know what will happen.”

Jungwoo immediately dropped his wrist in fear. _Executed_? They were even more trapped than they had been to begin with and now they were expected to kill someone? Jungwoo suddenly felt the urge to vomit. 

“The game is over when the killer dies. Twenty-four hours after the bracelet detects that my heart has stopped, the doors will be unlocked and you will be free. Oh, and I almost forgot. The door to the basement should now be unlocked. There you will find a morgue where you can store the bodies; keep them safe and sound. Remember, voting starts tonight at eight, don't be late.” The smile could be heard in the killer’s voice. “Please enjoy the game,” he singsonged and the intercom clicked off. 

The room was silent enough enough to hear a pin drop. Everyone simply stood in frozen shock, unsure of what to do. Eventually, Chan spoke up. 

“What,” he began, voice quivering in fear. “What is going on? That can’t be right.” He sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than anyone else. He looked between everyone, desperation in his gaze. “One of you couldn't have done all of this . . . right?”

“Who would be twisted enough to do something like this?” Renjun cried. 

"Someone’s not right in the head,” Yugyeom replied. 

“They can’t seriously expect us to kill someone else,” Sicheng spoke up. He sounded as if he could barely get the words out.

“Unless you want to be the next to go,” Yoongi replied dryly. Everyone turned to stare at him. He didn’t falter under their gazes. “That voice just said that the killer is among us. If we don’t find him and get rid of him, someone else is dying tonight.” This silences everyone once again. 

Renjun stood up from where he was crouching by Donghyuk’s side, scrubbing at his tear-streaked face. “We need to find whoever did this and kill him.” There was evident malice in his voice and no one could really blame him. Him and the other NCT members had just lost someone dearly close to them. He glared at everyone in the room. “And just so we are clear, I don’t trust a single one of you.”

“What should we do now?” Jacob questioned shakily, voice sounding hoarse from crying. 

“We search for clues,” Yuta replied. “Just like the killer said. He is giving us a fighting chance to get out of here and I am not about to waste it. He won’t get away with what he did.”

Renjun pushed his way past the people around him. “I’ll look by myself.” He walked out of the room without looking at anyone else. He really didn’t trust anyone anymore. 

They all watched him leave unsure of what to do. “Maybe we should all split up to look for clues,” Yugyeom suggested. “Like we did to look for a way out.”

Everyone seemed to agree, even if reluctantly. “Meet in the foyer at six. We can discuss what we find. Someone also please pass this information on to Renjun.”

“What time is it now?” Seungkwan questioned. 

“Noon,” Minghao replied almost immediately, glancing down at the bracelet on his wrist. “We have six hours.”

“Before we split up,” Jooheon spoke up. “Why don’t we all look around here first?”

Yugyeom nodded. “That seems fair. That way we are all watching each other as well to make sure no one tries to change anything.”

Seungkwan didn’t like the idea of people trying to tamper with evidence. Whoever had set this up was clearly some sort of mad genius and Seungkwan was terrified of what they were capable of. 

Jungwoo delicately picked up Donghyuk’s hand in his own. “It seems to have been a while since they died, first of all. He’s pretty cold.”

“Cause of death also seems pretty evident,” Minghao added, finally fully stepping into the room. 

Hoseok gulped. “You all treat this like it is so normal. You are already analyzing the corpses like they aren’t the bodies of our friends who were alive just yesterday.” Hoseok seemed absolutely distraught and everyone quieted once again. 

“Hobi,” Yoongi began softly. “It is absolutely awful, we all know that. Honestly, this is something that is going to haunt me for a very long time if I make it out of here alive. But that’s just it. The only way we are getting out of here is finding the killer. It’s the only way we can avenge their deaths. We don’t have time to grieve yet.” The older had his arm wrapped tightly around Hoseok. 

“I feel sick,” Hoseok replied. 

Yoongi sighed and looked up to the others apologetically. “I think we’ll step out for a minute. We can come back to look around here for ourselves.”

Yuta gave them a nod. “That’s fine.” With that, Yoongi led his boyfriend silently out of the room. 

“Jacob, are you going to be okay?” Chan asked, directing attention over to where Jacob seemed to still be holding back tears, standing by the bed. “Do you need a moment as well? I know this has affected you pretty badly from the beginning.”

Jacob took a deep breath and shook his head. “I’ll be fine. I want to find out who did this.”

“Good,” Changbin replied. “Because so do we.”

“Cause of death appears to be blood loss from . . . sliced throats.” Sicheng struggled to get the words out, but everyone knew that this was necessary.

“It’s probably also safe to assume they were killed in the middle of the night as the blood seems to have dried at least a little,” Lucas continued. 

“It also seems like they were moved to where they are now,” Taehyun piped up. As he had been reasonably silent up until this point, he immediately had everyone’s attention when he spoke. “I don’t see why Donghyuk would be sitting in Hongjoong’s room in the middle of the night and, aside from that, his posture is way too relaxed. He was set up there. Also, if you look closer at Hongjoong you can see that the blood on the white blankets is barely on the top. If he was killed where he is now, there would have been much more blood on the blanket. Instead, it is simply seeming into the fabric from the open wound at his neck.”

“That is a terrifyingly specific observation,” Jooheon noted. 

Taehyun looked down to his feet awkwardly. “I like riddles. I just wish the circumstances were different.”

“Don’t we all,” Yugyeom sighed. 

“Unfortunately, this alone doesn’t help us identify a killer. We will need to look around more. This includes all of the bedrooms.” Yuta gave everyone a pointed look. “Foyer. Six O’ Clock.” Those were his last words as he grabbed Sicheng by the hand and led him out of the room. 

“Are we all done here?” Lucas questioned. Everyone nodded. “Then you can all feel free to leave and search the rest of the house for clues.” Lucas took a deep breath. “Jungwoo and I will bring the bodies to the basement.” Jungwoo turned to look at his boyfriend in blatant alarm. Lucas met his gaze, nodding once, slowly. Jungwoo sighed, but he knew that someone had to do it. Everyone save Lucas and Jungwoo filed out of the room to look around the rest of the mansion. 

Chan and Changbin decided it would be best to stick together when looking for clues. They decided to start upstairs, working their way from the left to the right. They both doubted they would have any need to head downstairs for clues since both of the bodies were found on the second floor, but nothing could truly be ruled out. It didn’t take them long to find where something was wrong. 

“What could be in the restroom?” Changbin questioned. They had just finished snooping through Jacob’s room and the next room down before Yugyeom’s room was a restroom. 

Chan shrugged. “Anything, at this point.” Changbin hated that he wasn’t wrong. 

The minute they stepped into the bathroom Chan could see the red in the sink. Blood. He can just see the bodies of two of their friends, but the sight of the blood still made his stomach do turns. 

“What does this mean?” Changbin questioned, stepping the rest of the way into the room to stare down into the sink. 

“Perhaps where the killer washed the weapon?” Chan suggested. 

“Did you find something?”

Chan nearly jumped out of his skin at the sudden voice sounding behind them. He spun around to see Yoongi peeking his head into the bathroom from the hallway. He walked around to get a better look at what was going on and Chan could see that Hoseok was behind him, as always. 

“Yes, actually,” Changbin replied. Yoongi and Hoseok filed into the room, curious. 

“Do you think it’s where they washed the murder weapon?” Yoongi asked. 

“That’s what I was just saying,” Changbin answered. “It seems almost clumsy of them to leave it though.”

“Maybe it was intentional,” Hoseok offered timidly. He sounded sick and Chan felt a pang in his heart. He was so focused on looking around the house that he almost forgot what had happened already. 

“But why?” Changbin questioned. Hoseok shrugged. 

“Still no signs of the murder weapon?” Yoongi asked. Both Chan and Changbin shook their heads and Yoongi sighed in thought. “I really hope we can figure this out, or we will be killing another innocent person.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More is revealed about the situation all of the guests find themselves in. Has this led you to any suspects?
> 
> Also, I'm sorry for slow updates. After I actually manage to find time in my crazy busy schedule to write this, I also have to wait for JinJin to proofread it.


	4. Chapter III: Decisions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My friend told me every day since I uploaded the last chapter that I needed to update this, so here I am. It's time for everyone to make some decisions.

**Day 2—Discussion**

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Time went by quickly as the guests of the mansion all did their share of searching for clues and hints. There were intermittent stops to the kitchen for food to constitute the meals they were missing as they searched since they were all determined to find the right person. It was five minutes until six and everyone had gathered in the foyer, just as planned. 

“Okay,” Yuta breathed, running a hand through his hair, stressed. “We need to talk about what we found. Tonight we have to kill someone and I want to be certain that we are choosing the right person.”

Somehow, just Yuta saying it made it all seem more real. “What if . . .” Hoseok began. “What I don’t want to kill anyone?”

Sympathy could be felt throughout the entire room. They knew the feeling. “Someone in here killed Donghyuk and Hongjoong. If they die, we all live. If they survive, we all die.” Renjun’s voice was cold, unforgiving. 

“But . . . what if we kill the wrong person?” Jungwoo asked, voice small. The room was deadly silent. 

“We can’t let that happen,” Minghao stated firmly. This gave the group a little more confidence as a whole. 

“What happens if we just don’t vote for anyone?” Lucas asked. 

“Well,” Yugyeom replied. “My best guess is someone will randomly be chosen and electrocuted anyways. And it probably won’t be the killer. So it is up to us to find him.” Several of the guests physically shuttered. 

Yoongi sighed. “Where do we start?”

“How about we start with the scenario. As Taehyun said, it seems as if the bodies were moved to their positions after they were already killed,” Yuta explained. 

“I went back to look at the scene for myself, but the bodies were gone,” Renjun complained. 

“Sorry,” Lucas apologized. “Jungwoo and I moved them to the morgue in our new, lovely basement.”

Renjun sighed. “What else did I miss?”

“Well, the slits on their throats indicated a sharp weapon was used, but we were unable to find what was used to do it,” Minghao admitted. 

“I thought, at first, that it might be one of the knives from the kitchen, but they seemed untouched and were all in place,” Seungkwan added.

“Changbin, Yoongi, Hoseok, and I found blood in the bathroom sink, so whatever they used, they washed it,” Chan explained. 

“What bathroom?” Jungwoo inquired. 

“The one inbetween Jacob and Yugyeom’s rooms,” Chan replied. 

The room went silent. 

“Well,” Yugyeom prompted. “Is that all we have?”

“We know that it probably happened last night,” Jooheon offered. “But other than that, yeah. There didn’t seem to be anything suspicious in any of the rooms.”

“That leaves us with almost nothing to go on,” Changbin complained. 

“We have to try anyways,” Yuta prompted firmly. “It’s our only option.”

“Well,” Chan started. “It’s probably someone who has their own room. It would be easier for them to sneak out at night that way.” Almost everyone seemed to nod in agreement. 

“That makes sense,” Yuta corroborated. “And if you say you found blood in the sink in the left hallway that means the killer must have a room on that side. Why else would they go to that bathroom to wash the weapon if Hongjoong’s room was on the right side?”

“That narrows our options to two people,” Yoongi adds.

“Wait,” Yugyeom says, suddenly catching on to just what they mean. “You can’t seriously say that you are suspecting me right now.”

“The bathroom is directly between your room and Jacob’s,” Jooheon reasons. “That makes you two the most likely subjects. On top of that, you both have your own rooms so there is no one to catch you sneaking out.”

“What?” Jacob squeaked in pure fear. “No, it isn’t me! I could never.” They had only barely mentioned his name and he was already panicking. Jooheon felt guilty for even bringing him as an option after he saw how easily shaken the other was. 

“The only other person with their own room on that side is Taehyun and he didn’t stay there last night,” Chan reasoned. 

“That doesn’t mean anything,” Yugyeom argued. 

“It means neither of you has an alibi,” Yuta responded. 

“No,” Renjun suddenly spoke up. Everyone looked over to see him shaking his head. He had been thinking quietly on his own and what they were saying didn't add up. “It doesn’t have to be someone who had their own room. I didn’t hear Donghyuk leave the room. It’s possible that the killer snuck out quietly.”

“Possible, but unlikely,” Yuta defended. “Especially for the people sharing beds.” He turned to Lucas and Jungwoo. “Isn’t that right?”

“Yup!” Lucas said enthusiastically and Yuta could immediately tell there was something wrong. 

“What are you hiding?” Sicheng asked without missing a beat. 

Lucas’s eyes widened. “Nothing! Really.”

“Lucas we all know that’s not true,” Renjun added. 

He looked between everyone nervously, sweating. “It’s not . . . I . . . fine.” He sighed and hung his head, defeated. “Jungwoo left at one point last night to get water.”

“Lucas,” Jungwoo said, voice pained. Yuta couldn’t tell if it was because Lucas had caved and told everyone or because he felt sorry he had to try and keep that inside in the first place.

“And you weren’t going to tell us this?” Yoongi accused. 

“No!” Lucas defended. “Because I knew you would blame Jungwoo and he didn’t do it.”

“We can’t just rule him out because you say so,” Yuta reasons. 

“Yes, you can,” Lucas replied. “He wasn’t even gone for that long. And he would never kill Donghyuk!”

Though Jungwoo and Lucas were almost always together, Jungwoo often seemed to be able to take care of himself. He carried himself with dignity and spoke up when the situation called for it. However, he seemed like a completely different person right now. He felt broken. He was slowly shrinking into himself, leaning on Lucas for support. His hands were grasping desperately at Lucas’s shirt for comfort and support as he tried viciously to blink back tears, though unsuccessfully. 

“I—” Jungwoo tried to speak, but his voice caught in his throat. He tried again, trying to fight back the tears and stay strong in the face of doubt. “I could never hurt anyone. Especially not Donghyuk.” Lucas reached over to gently smooth down Jungwoo’s hair in an attempt to at least somewhat comfort him. 

“And he told you that he left?” Jooheon questioned.

“Well, obviously,” Lucas replied instantly. 

“Then that helps our previous case,” Chan continued, catching on. “It would be difficult for anyone sharing a room to sneak out without the other person noticing.”

“Which brings us right back to Jacob and Yugyeom,” Seungkwan stated. 

“And think about it,” Yoongi adds. “These two are our biggest suspects regardless of whether or not they have an alibi. Yugyeum very suspiciously took control over almost everything as soon as we found out we were trapped. And Jacob was clinging to Hongjoong all day yesterday. It would have been easy for either of them to convince Hongjoong to trust them and even let them into his room.”

“No,” Jacob defended, tears rolling down his face. “I couldn’t. Hongjoong helped me when I was scared. I could never hurt him. I could never hurt anyone.”

“You were with him pretty much all day,” Changbin conceded. “But that could also mean you were just getting close to him to kill him.”

“No,” Jacob sobbed sorrowfully.

“I don’t know if Jacob could kill anyone,” Sicheng said doubtfully. “He has seemed sick to the stomach since even coming here.”

“It could easily be an act,” Yugyeom argues. 

“No, I think you are more suspicious,” Sicheng replied boldly. “You have seemed really helpful so far, but, thinking back on it, it’s really suspicious. You seem to know a lot about what is going on here and we have simply been following you.”

“I’m just trying to help,” Yugyeom defended, visibly getting upset. “I’ve been trying to get us all out of here from the beginning and I have been keeping things in order. I have done nothing but help and now I am being blamed.” It seemed almost as if he was talking to himself at this point. 

“So,” Yuta spoke up. “Is that all we have?” No one replied. “I will take that as a yes. How about we all take the rest of this time to think things over before it’s time to vote.”

“What is there to think about,” Changbin argued. “We already know who it is.”

“And who’s that?” Chan inquired.

“Obviously it’s Jacob,” Yoongi replied. 

“We can’t just decide that now. There are still other suspects.”

“Like Yugyeom,” Jooheon added coolly, surely. 

“And Jungwoo,” Seungkwan said. 

“No!” Lucas yelled. 

“Even I am not sure who it is and it seems like we are just going to talk ourselves in circles. We don’t have too long before we have to vote. If we don’t get this right, we are killing someone innocent. That is why I suggest that we take some time to think about who we are going to vote for. I can only hope we come to the right decision. For all of our sakes.” This time, then Yuta spoke, no one argued with him. 

“I need a minute,” Renjun announced, standing up from where he had been sitting and heading up the stairs. 

Everyone else stayed in the foyer, talking quietly amongst themselves or simply thinking in silence. This wasn’t the first time Renjun had struck off on his own today. He simply couldn’t stand being around the others. He entered his room silently, closing the door behind him. He looked at Donghyuk’s empty bed and the pain in his heart grew. He didn’t know why he did it, but he felt the urge to fix his bed. Up until this point the blankets were still a mess from where he had left it, fully intending to come back. The others were wrong; it was completely possible for the killer to be someone who didn’t room alone. 

**Day 2—Voting**

Eight o’clock rolled around before anyone was really ready for it. Renjun had come back downstairs and they were all sitting in the foyer when the time came, waiting for something to happen. Sure enough, at exactly eight, the dreaded intercom clicked on once again. 

“You know what time it is,” the voice sang and they all sat silently and listened. “Have you missed me?” More silence. “I am sure the answer to that was yes. Now, if you will all look down to your bracelets you will see that your face is on screen with the ever-dreaded word ‘vote’ below it. Now, I’m assuming none of you want to vote for yourselves, so let me tell you how to change your choice. All you have to do is swipe in either direction to scroll through the pictures of the other guests. When you have found the one you want to vote for, simply tap the vote button. Simple as that! Happy voting!” The intercom clicked off. 

All of the guests looked down to their wrists to see that the killer had not been joking. Their pictures really had appeared on the screens of their bracelets. 

“Well,” Yuta spoke up. “This is it. May everyone choose wisely.”

Yugyeom scrolled through the pictures until he found who he wanted. He selected vote and looked up. “I’m telling you, it isn’t me.”

Jacob hadn’t even touched his bracelet, tears rolling down his face. “Please,” he pleaded. “I promise it wasn’t me. _Please_.”

“If he’s acting, he really is amazing,” Seungkwan noted.

Jacob managed to still himself long enough to vote for who he wanted, but he could not entirely stop his body from shaking. He was terrified. He tried to look around at the other guests, but no one would meet his eyes. They were so unsure, all of them. 

Soon, everyone had submitted their votes save one person. Renjun bit his lip, looking between everyone skeptically. He knew that they had next to nothing to go on. The one thing everyone seemed to agree upon was shaky at best and Renjun didn’t believe it for a second. His eyes finally landed on one person who had seemed to be really pushing the idea that it had to be someone rooming alone. Renjun made up his mind, scrolling until he found his photo and clicking vote. Not a minute after, the intercom clicked on once more. 

“All votes have been entered.”

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“There appears to have been a tie.” Everyone in the room was dead silent, waiting. “Two contestants received six votes. Yugyeom . . .” Yugyeom’s head fell into his hands in despair. “And Jacob.” Jacob let out a loud, heart-wrenching sob. Everyone flinched and averted their gazes. Even those who voted for him were compelled to feel pity. “One of the two guests will be randomly selected for execution.”

“Randomly?” Jacob squeaked in sorrow. 

“And the lucky winner is . . .” Everyone held their breath, not ready to accept what was happening. “Jacob. May you rest in peace.”

“_No_!” Jacob cried, terrified, broken. “No, please! It wasn’t me! I promise! I _promise_!” No one wanted to look. Jacob clutched at the person closest to him, who happened to be Jungwoo. Jungwoo began to tear up. Jacob suddenly gasped and a tremor shook through him. It was hardly more than that and suddenly his body slumped back against the sofa, limp. Jungwoo turned to bury his face in Lucas’s chest. 

“Is he . . . ?” Taehyun questioned aloud. 

Yoongi stood up and walked over to press a hand against Jacob’s throat. “ . . . no pulse,” he reported grimly. 

Everyone was silent. Some looked at Jacob, others kept their gazes averted. Even if indirectly, they had all just played a role in someone’s death. Jacob was dead and they had killed him.


	5. Chapter IV: Redemption

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yikes! I am so sorry it has been so long since my last update. I have been incredibly busy, but I by no means intend on leaving this unfinished. I have actually had this chapter done for a while, but someone (*cough cough* JinJin) has not proofread it. I decided to post it anyways since it has been so long, but please excuse my grammatical errors. I will fix them whenever my partner looks over the chapter or I manage to catch them myself. Thank you for waiting!
> 
> ~Salt
> 
> P.S. I also may or may not have taken a break from writing this to start another story. Halloween and just October in general always inspires me to write, but I always end up writing more than I planned. Therefore, I am still working on it (;^_^). If you want to read a long and spooky Strays Kids one shot, I will link it here when I finish it so you know what I have been dividing my time into. I will try to keep this updated as much as I can, whether JinJin spell checks or not (though it is better for everyone if he does).

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“ . . . So . . . was he the killer?” Hoseok questioned shakily, unsure. 

“I don’t . . . I don’t know,” Yoongi breathed. 

“We won’t know until morning. Either someone else will die or we can all get out of here in twenty-four hours.” They knew that Yuta was right, but none of them liked it. They were still stuck here and they didn’t even know if the killer was still among them. 

The room was silent again. Most kept their eyes to the ground, but some were brave enough to sneak glances at the boy who had just died among them. 

“What if . . .” Taehyun began, terrified. “What if it wasn’t him?”

“No,” Yoongi said, walking over to set a hand on his shoulder. “We can’t think like that.”

“I hate to think that the killer could still be among us, that we just killed someone innocent, but there is no harm in being too careful. Maybe it would be better if we all keep our doors locked tonight.” Everyone agreed solemnly to Yuta’s words. 

“Should we . . . bring his body to the basement?” Seungkwan questioned. 

“I can help,” Jooheon offered. He felt sick. He hated seeing someone in front of him, lifeless. Someone who had been alive and well only minutes ago. He didn’t vote to kill him, but he had still voted, nonetheless. He didn’t believe that Jacob could be the killer, but it would be so much better for all of them if he was. 

“It’s really eerie down there,” Jungwoo said quietly. “There is a space for all of us. Not labeled, like our rooms, but whoever set this up expected a lot of people to die. I don’t think this is over yet.” He lifted his eyes to look at Yugyeom who had been silent since the voting had ended.

“I don’t think this is over either. I want to believe that it was Jacob, but what if that is exactly what he wanted? Half of us seemed to agree that it was him, but the game has only just begun. He wouldn’t let it end so early.”

“_You_ wouldn’t let it end so early. You know that more people are going to die, because you are the one that set this whole thing up,” Lucas argued. “Don’t think that just because Jacob is the one that died that we forgot about all of the evidence against you. If someone else dies tonight, we will know who to vote for tomorrow.”

“I’m telling you, I’m not the killer! I have done nothing but try to help everyone get out of here. The only evidence you had against me and Jacob was that there was blood in the sink of the bathroom between our rooms. That’s a shaky basis at best.”

“What else did you expect us to go on?” Sicheng argued. “We spent the entire day trying to find something, anything that could help us.”

“All we are doing is killing more people. Maybe it was Jacob, maybe it wasn’t, but I’m not giving up until we find out who did this. If it’s Jacob, great. We can all get out of here with our lives. If not, the cycle repeats and we kill someone again. I want to find the killer more than almost anything, but I also don’t want to lose anyone else in the process.” Everyone could tell that Renjun was worked up. He had made a show of his independence, making it very clear how much he distrusted all of them, but no one really blamed him. Seeing him break down like this, they all realized he was just as scared as the rest of them. 

“There is no point in worrying about it now. What’s done is done. Jooheon and whoever else can take Jacob’s body to the morgue. The rest of us should head to our rooms. It’s best if we hope that Jacob was the cause of all of this and that we will all be free tomorrow, but, like Yuta said, we had better air on the side of caution. Lock your doors.” Chan looked between everyone as he spoke.”Please,” he said with a sigh. “Stay safe.”

They all agreed, almost silently making their ways to where they needed to be. Once Jacob’s body was safely stored away with their other two friends, everyone was locked up safely in their rooms. Or, as safe as they could be given the situation. 

Unlike almost everyone else, Yugyeom wanted to trust everyone, he really did. Even though he knew that half of the people in this house wanted him dead, he knew that it was not their fault. Whoever killed Hongjoong and Donghyuk didn’t want them to figure out who he was, so he needed to shift the blame. It was upsetting to know that the others didn’t trust him enough to believe that he wouldn’t do something like this, but Yugyeom didn’t want to believe anyone here capable of something so sick and twisted. 

Yugyeom sat alone on his bed for a long time, thinking. He knew that he wasn’t the killer, obviously, but he also didn’t know who the real killer was. Though he wanted to hope that it really was Jacob, his gut was telling him that that wasn’t the case. He had believed it was him at one point or he wouldn’t have dared to vote for him, but he was no longer so sure. He was close to Hongjoong, but, if anything, that would only make it more difficult for him to kill Hongjoong. He was the only person keeping Jacob from breaking. Other than that, they blamed him for the same reason they blamed Yugyeom. 

Yugyeom knew that the game couldn’t be this easy. Whoever was behind this had clearly been planning it for a long, long time. He wouldn’t let it end so soon. That meant that he still had to be out there, and he was going to kill again. And if he owned this house, surely something so simple as a locked door would not stop him. The thought made Yugyeom shiver and glance at the door. He debated pushing the chair in his room to block it, but thought against it. It somehow felt . . . selfish to blockade himself in here when he knew someone else was bound to die. He also knew that he would be blamed. Even if he could prove that he had been trapped in here all night, they already suspected him. He would die tomorrow and the killing would continue. Yugyeom couldn’t let that happen. 

That was it. Yugyeom knew what he had to do. He ran a hand through his mustard-colored hair, sucking in a deep breath. He stood up and made his way to the door. He stared at the handle, putting off his decision for as long as he could, before finally reaching out to turn the knob. The door made little to no sound as Yugyeom swung it silently open. He peeked his head into the dark hallway. There was no one in sight. He stepped out, quietly closing his door behind him. He gave his eyes a moment to adjust to the darkness before padding his way down the enormous staircase. The hard floor was cold against his bare feet, making his actions so much more vivid, more real. 

Yugyeom couldn’t sit back and do nothing while someone else died. He couldn’t let this sick game continue after he died when all of his friends made the mistake of voting for him. No, he wasn’t going to play this game. He was going to end this before it could get any further. 

Yugyeom silently made his way to the kitchen, taking as quiet of steps as he could. He knew that there were knives in the kitchen. He needed a weapon. He didn’t know how he was going to find the killer, but he knew that just being out of his room made him a target. He didn’t dare turn on the light, stumbling over to where he knew the knife block was. He pulled out one of the larger ones, squinting in attempt to help his vision. He took a deep breath, unsure of where to go from here. Back upstairs maybe? He stepped through the archway leading into the dining room from the kitchen, but that was as far as he made it. 

Before Yugyeom could even comprehend what was happening, someone stepped out in front of him. Something long and sharp was in their hand and Yugyeom didn’t realize it was the fire poker until after his attacker had already thrust it into his abdomen. Yugyeom’s mouth fell open in shock and he choked out a sob. The knife slipped from his grip and clattered to the ground. Yugyeom looked down to see the metal rod protruding from his body, the killer still gripping the handle, before looking up to meet the killer’s eyes. It was dark and he was coughing up blood, but Yugyeom could still manage to make out who was in front of him. His eyes widened at the sight of one of the last people he would ever suspect and he felt awful that he couldn’t end everything right here. 

The killer violently pulled out the fire poker, causing Yugyeom to fall to his knees before toppling over completely. He felt his hands go to the hole in his stomach even though he knew it was already over. He refused to close his eyes. He could see the killer set the fire poker against the table. He could see his feet coming closer to him before his vision faded out entirely. Yugyeom finally let go with the thought that, even if he hadn’t stopped the killer, his friends now had another chance to find out who killed him and end this once and for all. 

Yoongi’s eyes snapped open as he heard a door slam. He sat up so fast it hurt, turning his head to their door. There he saw Hoseok standing with his back to it, panting heavily. Yoongi immediately got out of bed and rushed over to him. 

“Are you okay? What’s wrong?” Yoongi tried to comfort him, laying a hand on his cheek. 

“I- I saw someone . . . in the hall . . .” Hoseok was shaking violently and could barely get out the words. 

Yoongi froze. “You probably imagined it. You’re scared. We all are.”

Hoseok swallowed hard. “No.” His lips turned into a frown and Yoongi could tell he was holding back tears. “No, there was someone there.”

Yoongi pulled Hoseok into a hug. “It’s okay. There was nothing. You’re safe.”

Hoseok pulled away, shaking. “No, Yoons, there was someone there.” He was looking into Yoongi’s eyes, pleading. 

“Hoseok, it’s okay. Someone might have needed to use the restroom, or go for a snack. We got the killer, remember?”

Hoseok’s eyes were shining with unshed tears of fear. He shook his head. “No.”

“It’s okay,” Yoong repeated, leading Hosoek back to bed. “You’re okay.”

Hoseok was sobbing and shaking, but Yoongi eventually got him into the bed and pulled the blankets over him. Yoongi held him close, stroking his hair softly and whispering reassurances. They were okay.

Chan closed the door to his room, eyes wide. Changbin was sitting up in his bed, rubbing at his eyes.

“What’s going on?” Changbin questioned, frightened. 

“Did you hear it too?” Chan asked shakily.

“The door slamming?” Chan nodded in response. “Yeah,” Chanbni whispered. “Do you think we’re safe?”

“There was no one in the hall, I think we’re okay.”

“Goodness! Don’t be so reckless! You could have gotten hurt.”

“I was worried,” Chan admitted timidly. “ I don’t want anyone else to die and I thought . . .”

Changbin sighed. “You can’t protect everyone, Chan. But hopefully there isn’t anything to protect them from anymore.”

Chan nodded, padding back over to his bed and sitting down “I really hope that was nothing. We have already lost too many people.” Chan put a hand over his aching heart. “Hopefully we are out of here by tomorrow. I miss everyone.”

“Yeah,” Changbin mumbled softly. “Me too.”

Chan pretended he didn’t see him pick up his phone from where he had it plugged in on the bedside table. He pretended he didn’t see him gaze sadly at his lockscreen, a picture of him and Felix, smiling and happy. He closed his eyes, curled up in his blankets, and pretended he didn’t hear his friend sniffling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am very curious to see who you think it is now. I will try to write in this a lot so you won't be left in suspense forever. Please let me know your thoughts/theories. ^^


	6. Chapter V: Dolls

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi. I meant to post this last Friday, but my internet cut out when I was in the middle of watching Frozen and it is only just now back, so here I am.

**Day 3**

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Taehyun woke up shivering only to find that he had somehow thrown all of the blankets off of himself while he was sleeping. After everything that had happened the previous day, he decided to sleep in his designated room. He wanted to rely on Yoongi and Hoseok, but this whole situation made him wary to trust anyone anymore. 

The sun had already come up and Taehyun felt his stomach growl. He had barely eaten anything thanks to all of the investigating they had done the previous day. Taehyun threw himself out of bed and walked over to the window. It was bright outside as the sun was beginning to rise. It was early. Taehyun could barely see his reflection in the glass, but he could tell he looked like a mess. He ran his fingers through his hair, trying his best to comb through it. It felt gross, but there was no way he was going to risk showering in this place. Surely they would be out soon anyways. Or so he hoped. 

Taehyun smoothed out his clothes the best be could before heading down to the foyer. As he descended the staircase he could see Jungwoo, Lucas, Sicheng, Yuta, Minghao and Renjun waiting for everyone else to wake up. 

“Good morning,” Sicheng greeted with a sheepish smile. Taehyun appreciated the sentiment. 

“Is no one else hungry?” Taehyun asked, joining the others on one of the couches. 

“I have been waiting for someone to ask,” Jungwoo admitted. 

“Shouldn’t we wait for everyone?” Minghao questioned. “That way some of us can cook for everyone.”

“No harm with starting the cooking now,” Lucas pointed out, already standing. “Besides, there is plenty of food in there that doesn’t need cooked.”

Yuta sighed. “I should have known your appetite would get to you eventually. With the two of you here we might not make it long before all of the food in the house in gone.” Yuta was joking, there was more than enough food to last them all a long time, but Taehyun was legitimately concerned considering he had seen how much the two could eat. 

Lucas and Jungwoo were racing to the dining room before Taehyun even had the chance to stand. He shared a look with the others in the room before they all followed after them. However, they were cut short when they saw that Lucas and Jungwoo had stopped dead in their tracks at the archway leading into the dining room. 

“What is it?” Renjun questioned. The words barely made it out of his mouth with the fear coursing through him.

Jungwoo let out a sob and covered his mouth with a hand. Lucas was shaking next to him, mouth agape. Minghao was the first who was brave enough to squeeze into the open space next to the two and peer into the room. When he saw it an overwhelming feeling of dread overcame him and he felt the urge to vomit. He swallowed hard and closed his eyes, trying to erase the image from his mind, but he could still see it no matter how hard he tried. 

There were a series of gasps and sobs as the others finally caught a glimpse of what was in the room. Footsteps echoed on the marble floor behind them. 

“Is something wrong?” Changbin asked warily. He and Chan crept up to the groups of people waiting outside of the dining room warily. Yuta turned to them, lips pressed into a grim line.

“Go and get the others.” He sounded choked up, terrified, and Changbin felt his heart sink. 

“Why, what’s wrong?” Chan’s voice was dripping with fear and concern and Changbin wanted so badly to know what was going on. 

“Just . . . please,” Yuta pleaded and they knew they didn’t have an option. 

Chan nodded. “Okay.” He and Changbin ran back up the stairs to wake the late sleepers, fear and anticipation coursing through their veins. 

Very slowly, very warily, the others began to make their way into the dining room. The scene that lay before them was gruesome and haunting. At the far end of the table, in the chair closest to the kitchen, sat their friend. Yugyeom was slumped in the ornate chair, hands placed delicately on the table. The table almost completely masked the wound from sight, but the fire poker leaning against the table beside him drew attention to the hole in his abdomen. Blood soaked his clothing and he was as pale as a ghost, eyes empty. But what was even more disturbing was the plate that was set in front of him with silverware on either side as if he were simply waiting for a meal. 

Lucas felt awful. Just last night he had been accusing Yugyeom of murdering two other people and how here he was, dead. He really hadn’t been the murderer. But neither was Jacob. They were wrong and now more innocent people were dead. Lucas was filled with overwhelming despair. 

Chan and Changbin were running back down the stairs, the other four guests stumbling down behind them. It didn’t take them long to realize who was missing. They poured into the kitchen and the reactions of horror repeated. 

Hoseok clutched at Yoongi. “I _told_ you! _Yoongi, I told you_.” His voice was barely more than a squeak of terror.

“Told you what?” Renjun questioned suspiciously. 

“Nothing,” Yoongi assured them with a noticeable gulp. He averted his eyes from the scene and intertwined his fingers with Hoseok’s. “It’s okay.” The last half was more to Hoseok than everyone else.

“Why . . . Why is he . . . ?” Jooheon didn’t have to finish his sentence for the others to understand what he meant. 

“First Hongjoong and Donghyuk. And now Yugyeom.” Taehyun seemed to be deep in thought though the look on his face was clearly one of terror. “They are all set up like . . .” He trailed off, though he didn’t know whether it was because he couldn’t find the word or because he was too afraid of what saying it would mean. 

“Dolls.”

The word hung silently in the air. Minghao had finished Taehyun’s sentence and there was no one in the room who could deny that that’s exactly what this was like. All of the bodies had been set up like dolls, like whoever had killed them had the right to set them up however he wanted. 

“This means that the killer is still among us . . .” Seungkwan pointed out in despair after a long silence. 

“And we no longer have a suspect,” Sicheng added chillingly. He was right. The two main suspects had been Yugyeom and Jacob and now they were both dead. They had no more leads.

“We can’t leave him like this,” Jugwoo reasoned. “The killer at least gave us a morgue. Not matter how morbid it is, at least they have a better place to rest than sitting around like this.”

“Should we take this one,” Yuta asked his boyfriend. Sicheng nodded and the two carefully lifted Yugyeom from the chair, carrying him to the basement. The others were left to stare at the place he had been. 

“Whoever his doing this thinks that he has full control over us. He doesn’t expect us to find out who he is. Not really. He is treating us like puppets, both when we are alive and dead.” Everyone was silent at Yoongi’s words. “We can’t just let him get away with this. We need to find out who is behind this sick game. We are going to find the killer tonight. We have to.”

“I guess . . .” Jungwoo began tentatively. “Without Yugyeom, we now have the chance to really start all over. If he hadn’t died tonight, we probably still would have thought it was him. He gave us a fresh chance.”

“We didn’t deserve him,” Chan said sadly. “He really was just trying to help us this whole time and we didn’t believe him.”

Seungkwan heaved a sigh. “Alright. I know we need to investigate, but can we eat first? I absolutely feel sick after that, but I didn’t get enough yesterday and I don’t want to die of starvation before we get out of here.”

“Just . . . don’t touch anything that’s out of place.” Everyone nodded at Yoongi’s words before slowly branching off. 

Hoseok was still shaking like a leaf and Yoongi wanted nothing more than to comfort him. He drew him out of the room and into a quiet corner of the foyer. 

“‘Seok, it’s going to be okay.”

“I _saw_ the killer, Yoongi.”

“You don’t know that. Someone else could have been out at night. You could have seen Yugyeom.”

Hoseok shook his head violently. “No . . .” He seemed to quiet for a moment, looking to the ground in despair. Suddenly, his head snapped back up and he stared directly into Yoongi’s eyes, terrified. “What if they think it’s me.” Hoseok let out a heartbreaking wail. “Yoongi, they are going to think it’s me! They are going to kill me!”

Yoongi almost felt his heart stop. “No.” The word barely made its way out of Yoongi’s mouth. He tried again. “That’s not going to happen. I didn’t tell anyone that you even opened the door. Besides, you just peeked out. You didn’t even leave. You are okay. It’s okay.”

Hoseok shook his head, sobbing. “No no no . . . .” he was mumbling, barely comprehensible. 

Yoongi took Hoseok’s hands in his own. “Listen, we are going to make it through this together. We’ll be okay.” Hoseok sniffled and looked up to meet Yoongi’s eyes. “Okay?”

Hoseok took the time to calm himself, allowing Yoongi to wipe away his tears. He took a deep, shaky, but steadying breath. “Okay.”

Yoongi smiled and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. “Okay,” he repeated with a smile. “Now, lets go and get some food. Then we can try to find out who really did this. 

Renjun stared at the blood on the floor of the dining room, popping the final orange slice into his mouth. It was clear that Yugyeom didn’t go anywhere after he was attacked. With the looks of the wound, Renjun wasn’t sure how he could have. He died almost on the spot, it seemed. He wondered if he should clean the blood. He decided to wait. 

Renjun’s eyes moved to the plate and silverware set out at the head of the table. He felt a shiver run down his spine. He really was set up like a doll. But that meant the killer would have had to move him into that position. And there was quite the profusion of blood both on the corpse and around it. The gears in Renjun’s brain were turning. Wouldn’t the killer have gotten blood on his clothes if he had moved Yugyeom?

Renjun supposed there was always the chance that Yugyeom had already been sitting when he was killed but Renjun found that far more than unlikely. No, the blood said that he was stabbed in the kitchen doorway. And the weapon used wasn’t difficult to find. The fire poker lay propped against the table right beside the chair. It would have been near impossible to stab Yugyeom with that if he had been sitting. Not to mention any sort of reasoning as to why Yugyeom would be sitting there to begin with.

However, none of the guests had any blood on their clothing, and it wasn’t like they had anything else to change into. Renjun frowned. It just didn’t make sense. Not unless the killer had multiple versions of the same outfit and somehow managed to miraculously change into it without anyone noticing. That or he actually managed to kill Yugyeom and maneuver his body into how they found it without getting a drop of blood on himself. 

Renjun sighed and ran a hand through his hair. This wasn’t going to be easy. 

Jungwoo had noticed the knife in the doorway when he first stepped into the kitchen. He knew that he was told not to touch anything, but he could so easily see people stepping on it and hurting themselves. He figured he was doing the right thing by moving it. However, he knew that it was still likely important evidence so he didn’t slip it back into the knife block, instead, setting it on the counter. He figured he could explain it to people during their nightly discussion later. But first, food. 

Yoongi and Hoseok had already done their round downstairs and had since headed to the second floor for further investigation. They had decided the first night that all rooms were free for searching when it came to this so they had a lot of ground to cover. However, Yoogni wasn’t hopeful seeing as they didn’t find anything incriminating the first time. Seungkwan, Minghao, Changbin, and Chan were with them. 

“We should split up to search rooms. It’s probably better not to go in pairs and to check everything individually,” Chan reasoned. “That way no one can hide anything.” They all agreed and split up. Hoseok was reluctant to leave Yoongi’s side, but was eventually coaxed away. 

Left on his own, Yoongi wandered to his room. He knew it might not do much at all, but he wanted to try his best to remember what happened last night in as vivid of detail as possible. He sat down on his bed, trying to recreate the scene in his mind. Maybe it could help him figure out who might have been outside. 

He had woke suddenly when Hoseok slammed the door closed. He had hurried over to him to calm him down. Hoseok claimed to have seen someone outside. He only said that they were in the hallway. Yoongi didn’t know if that meant all the way on the opposite end of the hall to the rooms on the other side of the stairs or on their side. The situation didn’t exactly call for Yoongi asking for specifics. 

Yoongi tried his best to remember what he heard that night. Aside from their bedroom door slamming, there was nothing. Hoseok was entirely convinced that he had seen the killer, but maybe he just saw Yugyeom leaving. 

Yoongi thought for a moment, startled by where his thoughts traveled. Why had Hoseok been in the hall to begin with? Yoongi didn’t hear a thing in the hall that would have made him go and check. He could have simply gone out to use the restroom or something similarly trivial, but Yoongi knew he was too terrified to go out alone at night like that. Yoongi tried to push the thoughts out of his head almost as soon as they entered it, but it was too late; the doubts that Yoongi hates so much, that he knew he shouldn’t, didn’t believe, began to fester.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh yeah!  
Here's the link to the one shot I was working on for a while there:  
https://archiveofourown.org/works/21751552?view_adult=true
> 
> Also this hasn't been read over by JinJin once again so please forgive grammatical errors. I will try to fix them as I find them! This is likely going to be a common occurrence from here on out.


	7. Chapter VI: Another Chance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas and happy holidays!  
Because nothing says Christmas like a healthy dose of murder.

**Day 3—Discussion**

\-----------

\-----------

It didn’t feel like long before all of the remaining guests were gathered once again in the foyer. No one sat where Jacob had only the previous night, some of them occasionally glancing at the glaringly empty space. 

Chan looked down at the terrifying death device strapped to his wrist. “It’s time,” he announced. 

“What should we start with?” Jooheon questioned. 

“We should probably start with what everyone could see before we start blaming people,” Seungkwan reasoned. “Specifically with . . . the body.”

Yuta nodded. “Good idea. I think the cause is rather obvious by the bloody fire poker beside him. The killer stabbed him in the abdomen and must have moved his body to the chair afterwards.”

“But if he moved the body, surely the killer would have gotten some blood on his clothes,” Changbin reasoned with a frown. 

“That’s what I thought too, but everyone is wearing the same clothes we have been since day one, no matter how gross that is,” Renjun replied. “The killer knows what he is doing.”

“How are we supposed to find someone that is this good at hiding from us?” Seungkwan complained. “Whoever it is is literally listening to all of this right now. He probably thinks we are all stupid.”

“Come on,” Minghao prompted gently. “We just got started.” Seungkwan heaved a sigh, but didn’t say anything more. 

“So, we found Yugyeom in the dining room. And, based on the blood, it seems he was stabbed in the doorway to the kitchen. But that would mean that Yugyeom was already out of his room to begin with. But why?” The question Chan posed hung in the air. Why?

“Surely he didn’t just go down for a midnight snack. Not when he knew the situation. Not when he knew we thought he was the killer.” Everyone nodded along with Lucas’s words. 

“Oh,” Jungwoo suddenly spoke up. “I think I know why he came down.” All heads turned to the blond boy. “I found a knife on the floor when we were going into the kitchen. I put it on the counter so no one would step on it, but I think that has something to do with why Yugyeom was downstairs.”

“Why would you move evidence?” Yuta almost shouted, alarmed. 

“I told you, I didn’t want anyone to step on it!”

“He was looking for a weapon . . . ?” It was clear by Yoongi’s question that everyone’s minds were turned to Yugyeom rather than Jungwoo. 

“Why would he need a weapon . . . ?” Hoseok’s voice trembled as he spoke.

“ . . . He was trying to fight back.” Sicheng’s eyes were wide as he spoke. “He was trying to clear his name. He was trying to save us.” A heavy silence fell over the room. 

“Then let’s not disappoint him,” Renjun prompted. “He gave us another chance to solve this. Let’s kill this killer.”

“What leads do we have?” Lucas asked. He was met with silence. “Wait, really? We have nothing other than that he was in the dining room?” There was clear alarm in his tone. 

“All of the rooms seemed clear,” Changbin explained. 

“And this time, there wasn’t blood anywhere but the scene of the murder,” Taehyun added. 

“So that’s it? That’s all we can do?” Yuta buried his face in his hands. “So much for another chance.”

“Last night . . .” Jooheon began slowly. “It might have been nothing, but I thought I heard a door slamming closed.”

All of the blood drained from Hoseok’s face. 

“No, I heard that too,” Renjun agreed. 

“Something definitely happened last night. Chan and I heard it too,” Changbin added.

“That means it had to be someone with a room on that side of the stairs because I don’t remember hearing anything,” Sicheng said. The other guests from his side agreed. 

“So, either someone is lying,” Yuta began. He turned to look at Yoongi and Hoseok. “Or someone is hiding something.”

Yoongi and Hoseok shared a look but neither of them spoke. A thick silence hung in the air. Yoongi could feel the tension and knew he had to say something. 

“Actually,” Yoongi began tentatively, biting his lip. Hoseok looked to him in alarm, pleading. Yoongi had to avert his gaze to continue, ignoring the pain in his heart. “Hoseok said he saw something last night.” Yoongi couldn’t meet Hoseok’s eyes. He wanted to keep it a secret, but the others needed to know the full truth. They needed to find the killer. 

“Is this true?” Minghao asked, looking at Hoseok. Hoseok visibly gulped before nodding. 

“Why did you try to hide this?” Sicheng asked suspiciously. 

“I didn’t want you to suspect me!” Hoseok defended. 

“Well now you just seen more suspicious,” Jungwoo reasoned with a frown. He didn’t want to disbelieve Hoseok like this, but the fact that he and Yoongi were trying to hide that they anything happened . . . well. 

“He said,” Yoongi continued, regretting every word as it came out of his mouth. “That he saw someone in the hall last night.” Yoongi felt like he was betraying Hoseok, but he needed to know the truth just as much as everyone else. He would be failing everyone else here who was just trying to live if he didn’t say anything. 

“_Yoongi_,” Hoseok whined, but what Yoongi heard was _why_?

“Did you see who it was?” Jooheon asked. Hoseok shook his head, tears forming in his eyes. Yoongi tried to grab his hand, but he pulled it away. 

“Why were you in the hall to begin with?” Lucas accused and Hoseok let out a frightened sob. 

“I wasn’t!” Hoseok screeched in alarm. “I just heard footsteps and checked outside.”

“I thought you were too scared to do something like that,” Seungkwan said, wary. 

“I . . .” Hoseok began, but he couldn’t find it in himself to finish. 

“But what if he’s telling the truth,” Taehyun defended. 

“But no one else heard anything,” Sungkwan argued.

“We heard a door slam,” Jooheon corrected. 

“But that was Hoseok, wasn’t it? Slamming the door?” Chan questioned. 

“I guess it was . . .” Yoongi replied.

“If he was so scared, any little sound could have frightened him,” Yuta reasoned.

“If he was so scared, why did he check?” Lucas asked. 

“Have you never seen a horror movie? It’s like, human instinct to investigate weird noises,” Taehyun pointed out.

Hoseok was sobbing and Yoongi’s heart was being torn to shreds. He wanted to reach out, but there was something stopping him. All of this evidence was stacking up against him and Yoongi was terrified by the fact he had nothing to refute it. The doubts filling his mind were overwhelming and he was torn between wanting to comfort his boyfriend and wanting to run from someone who could very well be a murderer. 

“What about the person I saw . . .” Hoseok barely managed to stammer. “I really did see someone . . .” He sounded so broken and hopeless. 

Changbin bit his lip nervously. “Hoseok wasn’t the only one who looked into the hall last night.”

Chan nodded. “That’s right. I checked the hall last night when I heard the door slamming.”

“Just checked?” Yuta asked warily. Chan nodded. “Did you see anyone.”

Chan shook his head. “No. No one.”

All eyes were on Hoseok again. “I promise! There was someone there! That’s why I got scared and slammed my door!” Everyone shared a look in silence. Hoseok grabbed at Yoongi. “_Please_, you have to believe me!” Yoongi flinched. Hoseok noticed. He froze, sniffling lightly. The look on his face was one of pure betrayal. He knew that Yoongi didn’t believe him. He had never felt a pain this great in his life. 

“He did slam the door,” Yuta reasoned. “That seems like something silly for a killer to do.”

“And Chan had his door open too. Who’s to say he wasn’t in the hall?” Jooheon asked chillingly. 

“But he openly admitted that he just peeked out to investigate a noise that the rest of us heard. No one else heard anything before that door slamming and Hoseok tried to hide he saw anything at all.” Minghao’s words seemed chilling and final. 

Changbin wanted to just agree with the others and vote for Hoseok, but his doubts had already begun to fester. If they were suspecting Hoseok for looking into the hall, Chan seemed just as guilty. 

**Day 3—Voting**

“It’s time~” an all too familiar voice sing-songed. “I think you all know what to do.” Watch faces flashed brightly. No one spoke. Everyone looked down to swipe through the smiling faces knowing that they were about to sentence one to death. 

“I . . .” Jungwoo began shakily. “I don’t want to be wrong again . . .” He looked up tearily but no one met his eyes. Lucas grabbed his shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze before making his selection. 

Yoongi was crying as he stared down at his watch. Hoseok was smiling up at him from the surface, carefree, hopeful. It was killing him inside, this doubt, this fear, this suspicion. He loved Hoseok, but he was scared. Scared that he wasn’t who he said he was. Scared that he really had been the one to set this all up. That he was the killer. The Hoseok he knew would never have checked that hallway if he heard something. Not knowing that there could still be a murderer in the house. Yoongi loved Hoseok. But he was scared. 

They all knew who it was going to be. The vote wasn’t unanimous, but it was close. He had tried to defend himself, but they could find a fault in almost everything he said. Even he knew he looked suspicious and there was nothing more he could do to convince them otherwise. He looked guilty. And that was all they needed. 

“All votes have been entered.”

\------------

\------------

“Hoseok has received the most votes.” Hoseok's heart fell. “May you rest in peace.”

Hoseok turned to Yoongi, taking his hands. From the sorrowful look in his eyes, Yoongi could tell he _knew_. He knew that Yoongi had voted for him. And he had forgiven him. Yoongi’s heat shattered. 

“I love you,” Hoseok whispered with a sad smile. His face contorted in pain and Yoongi could practically see the shock go through his body before he fell limp. Yoongi caught him, lowering him carefully to the ground, sobbing uncontrollably. 

“No, please,” Yoongi begged. “I’m sorry.” Tears were rolling down his face like a waterfall and he could hardly breath around his choked sobs. “Please don’t leave me! I’m so so sorry! What have I done?”

“He would have had enough votes for this without yours,” Minghao offered. “It wasn’t your fault.”

Yoongi didn’t hear him. He didn’t hear anyone. He held Hoseok’s face delicately in his hands, staring sorrowfully at the man he loved, lifeless. He still didn’t know if it really was Hoseok who had done this, but he now realized it didn’t matter. Was it worth getting out of here and going home if it meant he was returning without Hoseok? Yoongi wasn’t so sure anymore.


	8. Chapter VII: Lost Hope

\-----------

\-----------

“Yoongi,” Seungkwan called softly. Yoongi didn’t respond; he didn’t hear a word. 

“Yoongi, we need to move his body,” Yuta prompted. 

This Yoongi heard. “No,” he sobbed, clutching Hoseok’s body close to him. 

“_Yoongi_” Jooheon asserted. “We need to move his body.”

Yoongi looked up to him pleadingly. “I can’t leave him.” Jooheon’s heart was breaking. 

“I will help you carry him down then. It will be okay. We are going to get out of here. Just wait until morning.” With that Jooheon made his way over to try and lift Hoseok from the floor. Yoongi tried to lift with him, he really did, but he was shaking so much that he simply couldn’t bear the weight. “Alright, I’m going to need someone else to help,” Jooheon said with a sigh. 

Seungkwan ended up helping to carry Hoseok down to the basement while Yoongi trailed behind. It was horrible, seeing the person he loved most slipping away into a freezer. He would never get to hug him again. Never get to kiss him, hold his hand. No more secret dates with sugary sweets or cuddles when Yoongi was afraid. Hoseok was gone and there was no getting him back. This would destroy the group, sure, but it was going to destroy every bit of Yoongi first. 

The morgue in the basement was a terrifying and morbid place, colorless and frigid. Something that should never exit in a house. Something that should never be used. And yet, Hoseok’s body wasn’t the only one occupying a space down there, but the fifth. There were seventeen spaces. Enough for all of them. It was almost as if whoever set this up expected someone to put the final body in when they were gone. 

Seungkwan and Jooheon had to literally drag Yoongi back up the stairs. This isn’t something anyone should ever have to experience. None of this was. Seungkwan couldn’t even imagine what Yoongi was feeling and he had no idea how to even begin to console him. He had just lost his boyfriend. And he had had a hand in killing him. They were all fairly certain that he was the one killing all of these people, but none of them would know until morning. 

By the time they made it back up the stairs, the others seemed to have all gone to their rooms except Minghao who was waiting for Seungkwan with a smile. Before Seungkwan even had a chance to close their door, he could hear Yoongi slamming his closed. He wondered if he was making a statement.

“Do you really think it was him?” Yuta asked Sicheng as they lay on their bed. 

“I do,” Sicheng said, sitting up and nodding down to Yuta. “You have to admit that everything seemed to be piling up against him.”

Yuta was sitting now too, eyebrows knit together. “Yeah, but . . . I don’t know. It doesn’t seem right that he would just slam the door like that. Whoever set this up is smart; I just can’t make myself believe that he would be that reckless.”

“Unless it was on purpose.” Now Sicheng really had Yuta’s attention. 

“What do you mean?”

“He was acting scared. From the very beginning he seemed like a nervous wreck. He could have just been playing that up. If he slammed the door he could try to play it off as fear, just in case anyone actually saw him sneaking back into his room.”

A smile spread on Yuta’s face. “You are a genius.”

Sicheng smiled proudly. “I know.”

Yuta gave his boyfriend a peck on the lips. Sicheng gigged. “All of this is awful, but I’m glad I have you with me. I’d be a mess without you.”

“Shut up,” Sicheng said, giving Yuta a playful shove and smiling shyly. 

“I’ll keep you safe, okay?” Yuta leaned in close, staring into Sicheng’s eyes. Sicheng glared, but he couldn't keep his lips from curving upwards. 

Sicheng leaned back in to kiss Yuta again. This situation was beyond terrible, but, in this moment, holding Yuta close to him, Sicheng believed they could get through it. 

Jungwoo woke up early once again. He swore he slept better in this place every night. The thought of this house becoming familiar sent a chill down his spine. He stretched to wake himself up before looking over to the window. The curtains were drawn, but he could tell the sun wasn’t quite up yet. 

He heard a groaning beside him and looked down to see Lucas clutching at the blankets Jungwoo had moved by sitting up. Jungwoo laughed quietly. 

“Sleepy?” Jungwoo asked. Lucas peeked one eye open, smiling when he saw Jungwoo. He closed it again and hummed what Jungwoo could only take as a confirmation. Jungwoo could tell he wasn’t getting him out of bed just yet. Instead, he leaned down to plant a chaste kiss to his boyfriend’s lips before sliding out of bed. 

Lucas whined and Jungwoo placed the blankets back over him from where they had moved. He would come down eventually. Besides, Sicheng and Yuta would be down soon as well. Jungwoo stopped in the bathroom in their hall to fix his hair as best he could before descending the staircase. 

Jungwoo was immediately wary when he saw he was the first downstairs. As a precaution, he tiptoed to the dining room and peeked in. No bodies. He breathed a sigh of relief. He wandered around the foyer for a little bit before finally deciding to sit down. He hummed happily as he flopped onto the sofa, gaze drifting to the stairwell to wait for his friends he knew also woke up early. 

He didn’t hear anyone walk up behind him which is why he was caught entirely by surprise when his air was suddenly being cut off. Jungwoo’s eyes widened and he clutched at whatever was wrapped around his neck. He tried to twist to see who was doing this, but his attacker simply wrapped whatever was choking him around his neck another time and pulled harder. Jungwoo opened his mouth to try an make a sound, but it was pointless. There was nothing he could do. 

Jungwoo felt tears form in his eyes as the energy began to leave his body. He knew this was it, this was where he died, but he wasn’t ready. He was so happy with his life, he didn’t want to die. He didn’t want to leave anyone behind. He didn’t want to leave Lucas behind. Jungwoo’s heart broke when he imagined how Lucas would feel. He was so stupid. They were supposed to get through this together. 

Jungwoo clawed at his neck with his last bit of strength, trying to loosen the what was choking him. His vision was blurry. He reached back trying to find the hands of whoever was doing this, but he was only met with more of the whatever was cutting off his air. 

A tear slid down Jungwoo’s face and he knew he had to accept it. A part of him was still holding out a hope that someone would come down the stairs and save him. Through his rapidly fading vision, Jungwoo stared at the staircase, imagining someone coming to rescue him. But no one came. 

“Lucas.” Jungwoo’s mouth formed the final word even if no sound came out. His arms finally fell limp and the world Jungwoo was so in love with finally slipped away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I already plan on making a separate story after I finish this one from the killer's perspective and I also want to make an alternate ending. However, I was wondering if anyone would be interested in me maybe writing a one shot about what was going on outside of the mansion when all of these idols suddenly disappeared. Please let me know!
> 
> I also love reading all of your theories on who the killer is; they are all so clever!


	9. Chapter VIII: Grief

**Day 4**

\-----------

\-----------

Seungkwan woke to the sound of someone sobbing. His first instinct was to look over at Minghao, but the other was still seeping soundly in his bed on the far side of the room. Another sob sounded, louder and Seungkwan could tell that it was distant. He saw Minghao finally open his eyes. The other sat up and met Seugkwan’s eyes, sleepy and confused. No words needed to be said for them to know they needed to figure out what was going on. 

The two rushed down the stairs, drowsy and disheveled. When they reached the foyer, they were horrified by that they saw. 

“No,” Minghao breathed. “Not again . . .”

Lucas was sobbing uncontrollably, holding his boyfriend’s face in his hands. Jungwoo’s body lay limp on the sofa and Seungkwan thought he could make out a mark on his neck, but he was still too far away to tell for sure. Yuta and Sicheng stood back from the scene, eyes wide and filled with tears. 

“I . . . I think I’m going to be sick,” Sicheng announced shakily, bringing a hand to his mouth before rushing off. Yuta hesitated, gaze lingering on their dead friend before trailing after him. 

Minghao tentatively took a step closer to the scene, horrified. He could hear the sound of door opening and more people rushing down the stairs, but he couldn’t take his eyes off of the tragedy before him. Before he knew it, every remaining gest in the house, save for Yoongi, was flooding past him. 

Chan covered his mouth with his hand at the sight before him. This really wasn’t over. They all really thought Hoseok was the killer, but the body before them clearly said otherwise. Lucas pulled Jungwoo’s limp body into a hug, clutching him close and sobbing. 

“No,” Lucas cried. “This was supposed to be over. We were supposed to be safe. We were going to make it out together.”

Chan had to turn away.

“We killed the wrong person,” Renjun said chillingly, soullessly. “Again.” Chan could see the ghost of tears trying to form in his eyes. He blinked them away. 

“That means . . .” Taehyun began, eyes widening in fear. 

“That Hoseok was innocent,” Seungkwan finished. “What have we done?”

Everyone shared a gaze, taking in who was not there. What were they going to tell Yoongi?

Lucas set Jungwoo down silently while the others were not paying attention, turning to face them. “One of you did this,” he accused coldly through his pain. His words were harsh and biting, something so foreign to hear from Lucas’s lips. 

“There are three people not here,” Changbin defended. 

Lucas shook his head and swallowed a sob. “No. Yuta and Sicheng would never do this to Jungwoo. And Yoongi is too distraught to do anything. It was one of you.”

“You think _I_ could do this?” Renjun asked incredulously. 

Lucas sighed and shook his head, trying to clear it. “No. And that doesn’t leave a lot of options.”

Renjun helped Lucas carry Jungwoo’s body to the morgue. It took them a long time to come back up. None of the other knew what to say to each other. They knew Lucas was right. People were dwindling and that wasn’t leaving many options for who the killer could be. Suspicion was at an all time high and, for the first time, Lucas seemed like a threat. 

Chan wasn’t stupid. He knew he was now the most likely suspect. He was the only one that had opened his door the night of Yugyeom’s murder and that is what they based their decision on entirely. Maybe they would realize that perhaps they were looking at everything wrong since Hoseok wasn’t guilty, but Chan’s hopes weren’t high. But he needed to at least clear his name with the only person he really trusted in this house. 

Changbin stopped outside of his bedroom door. He knew he needed to look for clues and he hated that this was the first place he thought to look. He knew he should have more faith in Chan and he felt awful that he didn’t. He felt guilt every second of every minute since he voted for Chan. It felt wrong, but there was a part of his that kept reminding him just how suspicious Chan seemed. 

Changbin crept into his own bedroom like it was a crime. He didn’t close the door behind him because he didn’t want to others to think he was trying to hide anything and his adrenaline was through the roof. Changbin bit his lip as he walked to the first bed in the room; Chan’s bed. It looked no different from his bed, really; neither of them fixed their blankets when they got up; there was nothing extra on either side since this wasn’t actually their house. 

Changbin could hear his heartbeat as he got down on his hands and knees to look under the bed. He didn’t know what he was expecting to find. Knives? Rope? A hit list? Changbin braced himself as he peered under and was met with . . . nothing. There was nothing under his friend’s bed.

Changbin’s face burned with embarrassment as he stood. What was he thinking? Trying to find evidence that his friend, his groupmate, his leader was a murderer. What kind of friend was he? Though all of these doubts began to open up in his suspicion, Changbin could not let himself be at peace until he moved around more on Chan’s bed and looked around the room more. Still nothing. He felt stupid and ashamed of himself. 

“Looking for something?” 

Changbin jumped and spun around to see Chan standing in the doorway. 

“No . . .” Changbin lied terribly. 

Chan sighed and stepped into the room. “It’s okay,” Chan assured. “I know you think it’s me. Heck, I would think it was me too. I was the only other suspect after Hoseok.” Changbin stayed quiet. He didn’t know how to respond. “You voted for me, didn’t you?” Changbin flinched. 

“I . . .”

Chan nodded in understanding. “If you really think it’s me, okay, but I want you to at least give me a chance to prove myself. The others are going to think it’s me, I already know that, but, if I’m really going to die tonight, I want to know that at least you believe in me.” Changbin’s heart twisted in a sickening pain. “So lets try investigate this together. What do you say.”

Changbin swallowed and took a moment to calm himself, to stop himself from crying. “Okay,” he croaked and Chan offered him a timid smile. 

“Yoongi,” Taehyun called softly. He knocked again. There wasn’t a single sound from the other side of the door. Taehyun sighed. “You can’t stay in there all day.”

Taehyun was ready to walk away when he finally heard a response. “Yes I can.” Yoongi’s voice didn’t sound like his own and Taehyun could tell that he had been crying. 

“Yoongi . . . there was another murder . . .” Taehyun hated to be the one to break the news to him but he got the distinct feeling that no one else was going to. He heard Yoongi let out a choked sob. “Can you . . open the door?”

“No . . . No.” Taehyun could tell Yoongi was crying and he didn’t know what exactly he was saying no to, Taehyun’s request or the news he just delivered.

Taehyun moved to walk away again, but he felt something inside of him screaming not to. “You know,” he began. “You didn’t kill Hoseok.” Taehyun rushed to get another sentence out before Yoongi could argue. “Whoever trapped us here did. No one here wants to kill anyone. No one but the killer. But that is why we need to find him and get out of here. If not for yourself . . . do it for Hoseok.” Taehyun was met with a long, empty silence and he eventually gave up, finally retreating to look for clues. He hoped Yoongi would realize that he couldn’t stay there forever. They needed to get out of here. 

“There is nothing in here,” Seugkwan said with a sigh. Minghao hummed at his words to indicate that he didn’t find anything either. 

“What about that?” Jooheon asked. Seungkwan and Minghao looked to where he was pointing. 

“Oh,” Minghao breathed. 

“Should we take it with us?” Seungkwan questioned. “You know, as evidence?”

“I think we should.”

Lucas had been looking for hours and couldn’t find a thing. They had all been so sure that the killer was Hoseok. That fact that they were wrong seemed to shake them all to their cores. Lucas wanted to mourn for the innocent person they had killed, but he couldn’t get his mind off of Jungwoo. He could still see his peaceful face; it was almost like he was simply sleeping. He could still feel his cold body under his hands. 

Lucas swiped at the tears that spilled out of his eyes as he sat on his bed. He vaguely remembered Jungwoo getting up that morning. He had a faint memory of his boyfriend giving him a light kiss before leaving. Lucas buried his head in his hands and let himself cry once again. He still couldn’t believe he was gone. And it was his fault.


	10. Chapter IX: Accusations

**Day 4—Discussion**

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“Where is Yoongi?” Yuta asked, addressing a question in everyone’s minds.

“I don’t think he has left his room all day,” Jooheon replied with a frown. 

“He knows he has to come down for voting, right?” Renjun questioned. 

“Give him a break, he just lost someone,” Seungkwan sympathized. 

“We all did!” Lucas retaliated. “If he is going to act like this instead of helping us find the killer, he is letting all of these deaths go to waste. He is only helping to kill us all.” The room went silent at the harsh words. 

“You’re right.” All eyes turned to the stairs to see Yoongi. His eyes were puffy and his voice was rough, but he was there. “And that’s why we are going to figure this thing out if it is the last thing we do. We can’t let the killer get away with this sick game. This has to end tonight.”

Taehyun almost wanted to clap. For some reason he was filled with a pride that he could not explain. Yoongi had actually managed to pick himself up after what had happened. He had been helping them so much with all of their investigations and their chances took a hit without him. He might still be dealing with the grief, but so were the rest of them. They were going to do this together. 

“I think we should start with how Jungwoo ended up here,” Jooheon spoke up. “Because I know Jungwoo is too smart to be out at night on his own.”

Lucas shook his head. “He wasn’t out at night.” Everyone looked to him in confusion. “He left the room this morning. We are both usually the first ones up along with Sicheng and Yuta. I didn’t expect him to come down alone.”

“Then he couldn’t have been dead for long when you got to him,” Seungkwan reasoned grimly. 

“So I was barely too late?” Lucas choked. Everyone remained silent. 

“Were you the first to find him?” Taehyun inquired. 

Lucas nodded. “Sicheng and Yuta came down right after me.” 

“They also left before most of us got down here,” Changbin pointed out. 

“Sicheng felt sick,” Yuta defended. One look at Sicheng verified his words. He was much paler than usual and looked weaker. 

“Out of nowhere?” Renjun questioned, eyebrows knit together in concern. 

“First Donghyuk . . . Now Jungwoo. And all of the others. So many people are gone.” Sicheng sounded pained. “I was so sure it was Hoseok. So sure. But I just helped us all kill someone else who was perfectly innocent. I just . . .” Sicheng stopped talking, face contorting in a way that suggested he wasn’t feeling so well.

Yuta wrapped his arms around him in concern. “You okay?” Sicheng forced a nod. 

“It’s because of all of those that we lost that we need to figure out who really did this.” Seungkwan argued.

“But . . .” Jooheon began. “Sicheng is right. We have been killing innocent people.”

“Someone is dying tonight no matter what we do,” Lucas retorted. 

“What do you mean?” Minghao questioned. 

“If we don’t vote to execute someone tonight, someone else is going to die. The cycle won’t stop unless we stop it. I want this to end now. For it to finally be over.” It was clear all of this had taken a toll on Lucas, one the others understood all too well.

Chan sighed. “Then let’s do what we have to do.”

“It’s obvious Jungwoo was strangled, right?” Yuta asked. Everyone agreed. “But with what?”

“There was no sign of anything that could have been used to kill him this time,” Taehyun said with a frown. 

“Actually . . .” Minghao began. All eyes turned to him. 

“We found something that could have been used. It seemed like a rope or cord of some sort was used and . . .” Seungkwan turned to look at Jooheon after speaking.

Jooheon pulled the phone charger out of his pocket that he, Minghao, and Seungkwan had found when searching. “It was plugged in in Chan and Changbin’s room.” Everyone gasped, Chan and Changbin included. All eyes went to the two new suspects.

“That charger has not left that room!” Changbin argued, still shocked. He did not expect this at all. “I charge my phone while I sleep!” He pulled his phone out of his pocket and held it up, trying to show off the full battery, but no one seemed to care. 

“Why would you need to keep your phone charged?” Yoongi accused. “You can’t even use it here.”

“We don’t have signal, but there are other things you can do on a smartphone,” Changbin defended in a panic. 

“Why did you bring a charger with you to begin with?” Taehyun questioned in suspicion. 

“I take it with me almost everywhere! I didn’t know how long we would be here when we were invited!” Changbin was trying hard to refute everything, but he had a sinking feeling that the damage was already done.

“We didn’t find anything else that could have been used,” Yuta pointed out. 

“And you two are the only ones with access to your room at night if you keep it locked,” Renjun added. 

“But what makes us so sure that it was Changbin and not Chan? They share the room.” Everyone seemed to contemplate Sicheng’s words. 

“Chan did also look into the hall when Hoseok claimed to have seen someone. And if he really wasn’t lying . . .” Minghao hated the words as they came out of his mouth. It almost felt too simple, but he needed to point it out. 

“You all heard the door slamming too,” Chan defended. “I was just the only one who checked. And I am not saying that Hoseok is lying. Maybe he really did see someone. Or maybe he just thought he did.”

“I suppose he could have seen Yugyeom leaving,” Yoongi reasoned. “We don’t really know what time he died. The entire incident in the hall could have been completely unrelated to the killer. Maybe that’s even what alerted him that someone was awake.”

Yoongi had to admit that he was going into this all a little blind. He hadn’t seen the body and had to simply work off of what everyone else way saying. His heart was still heavy with loss, but he allowed it to motivate him rather than drag him down. He wasn’t okay. He was far from okay. But he also wasn’t just going to give up now. Besides, the entire basis they were working off of the night before seemed to be false and it was the reason Hoseok was dead. Yoongi didn’t want it to be what killed someone else.

“That still leaves Chan and Changbin as the main suspects though, even if we disregard the incident that night,” Taehyun pointed out. 

“I still think Chan is the most suspicious. He could have easily been in the hall that night,” Renjun accused. 

“But it was Changbin’s charger,” Seungkwan pointed out. “He was the one that brought it here. Surely only he could think that it could be used as a weapon.”

“No,” Chan defended. “Why would either of us even be downstairs so early? And why would we bring the charger down with us?”

“I think everyone knows who wakes up the earliest. It’s the same people almost every day. All one of you had to do was wake up early and sneak down here first with the charger.” Yuta reasoned.

“How would we know just one person was going to come down? We never wake up early. As far as we know, multiple people could come down at once,” Changbin refuted. 

“It would be the others who wake up early who would know Jungwoo would come down alone. Or, specifically, the one person who knew Jungwoo came down alone this morning.” Lucas gasped at Chan’s words. 

“You are not saying that it was me!” Lucas shouted. 

“You are the only one who really knew that Jungwoo came down alone this morning. You would have had the perfect chance to kill him and make it seem like it could have been anyone else,” Chan reasoned. 

Tears began to form in Lucas’s eyes. “I could never! I can’t believe you would even suggest that! I _loved_ him!” Chan felt awful for accusing Lucas like this, but he didn’t know what else to do in the face of these nearly baseless accusations. 

“But he didn’t have access to the weapon,” Jooheon pointed out. 

“The weapon really wasn’t that phone charger,” Changbin defended, but he felt like no one was willing to listen to him. He was trying his best to refute everything, but he wasn’t like Chan; he couldn’t think of any other explanation, he couldn’t truly defend himself. 

“I have seen Changbin use it. He really does charge his phone every night. I’m telling you, you have the wrong weapon.” Changbin’s heart twisted at Chan’s words. He felt beyond guilty for the way he had been behaving, trying to find evidence against him. 

“I know you trust your friend,” Jooheon conceded. “But don’t you think it’s suspicious that he brought it here? Almost as if he knew we were going to be here for a long time. 

An image of Changbin crying while looking through pictures on his phone flashed through Chan’s head. He did it every night, looked at pictures of Felix and the others. Chan hated that everyone was finding a way to use his comfort against him. “No.”

“I don’t think there is anything else we can argue,” Yuta pointed out. “We still have some time. Maybe we should take a break and meet back up here for voting.”

Chan sighed, reaching over to grab Changbin’s hand reassuringly. “So be it.”

Changbin waited for Chan to leave their room to go down for voting before opening a drawer in his bedside table. He had grabbed a pen and some paper from the library downstairs earlier and stored it there. If this was really going to be the end, there was something he needed to do first. Changbin took a shaky breath and put pen to paper.

**Day 4—Voting**

All of the remaining guests were gathered solemnly once again in the common room. They all knew what came next. No one really wanted to do it, but they also knew they had no other choice. This sick game had already gone on for too long. 

The intercom clicked on. 

“Who’s it going to be tonight? Will you get it right this time?” The voice’s cheery tone was patronizing. “It’s time to find out! Please submit your votes!”

Yoongi hated having to rely simply on everyone else’s accounts. He was stuck on who to vote for, swapping repeatedly between Chan and Changbin. He didn’t know who else it would be; he couldn’t make himself believe that Lucas would do this, not after experiencing a similar loss. Yoongi swore to himself that he would get his head back in the game after this. He was going to get out of here. 

He sighed, staring hard at Chan’s photo. He hated to think that it could be either Changbin or him. They had both been so nice this entire time. Changbin hadn’t done anything suspicious other than this and Chan had always made sure everyone was okay. Yoongi frowned, hesitating before submitting his final vote. 

Changbin looked between everyone. He knew they were voting for him. Either him or Chan. He wished that he was able to stop it, but he also knew that there was nothing he could do at this point. He couldn't think of anything to defend himself or Chan. He felt like he was letting them both down. He scrolled through pictures before finally landing on Lucas. It was the only thing he could really do. 

“All votes have been entered.”

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“Changbin has received the most votes.” Changbin blinked back tears as his heart filled with fear. He wasn’t ready to die. He knew there was nothing he could do to stop it, but there was so much more he was supposed to do first. His life wasn’t supposed to end like this, this early. “May you rest in peace.”

No one spoke. Chan let out a sob. The tears finally started to fall from Changbin’s eyes. He was scared. He met Chan’s eyes. Chan sobbed harder. The pain came quickly, horribly, but it didn’t last long. 

Chan caught Changbin before he hit the ground, sobbing into him. The others watched in silence. 

“It was probably him, Chan,” Jooheon tried to reassure. 

Chan shook his head, still holding Changbin tight. “No,” he blubbered. “Changbin wouldn’t. He could never. This was a terrible mistake.”

“What will you do if we get out of here in the morning. If it really was him?” Yuta asked.

Chan didn’t respond.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you think? Is it finally over?


	11. Chapter X: And So It Continues

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's short, but I wanted to get another chapter out before I go on a short vacation to see Stray Kids (I always write ahead, so don't worry, I didn't skimp on anything for the sake of time). 
> 
> Now I just have to worry about looking Chan and Changbin in the eyes at the hi touch and trying to forget that I put them through this in my writing.. haha..
> 
> ~Salt

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Lucas helped Chan carry Changbin’s body to the morgue. It was clear that he forgave Chan for accusing him. He knew the other was desperate to find another explanation. Lucas wouldn’t believe anyone if they tried to convince him the killer was Jungwoo. But it had to be Changbin. The evidence was there. 

He touched Chan’s shoulder lightly when they had finished. Chan sniffled, but thanked him quietly. Lucas’s eyes caught on where he knew Jungwoo’s body lie. He could feel his eyes fill with tears against his will. 

“I think I might stay down here,” Lucas whispered, broken.

“You can’t sleep down here,” Chan replied, eyebrows knit together. It was as if he had read Lucas’s mind. Lucas opened his mouth to argue that he hadn’t been intending to do that, but Chan didn’t let him. “It’s written all over your face. It’s not safe down here. I hope that, after all of this, we are really free tomorrow, but it’s not worth risking it. Sleep in your room.”

“But . . .” Lucas began sorrowfully. “The bed is going to be so empty.” That was a direct hit to Chan’s heart. He hadn’t even thought of that. 

Chan sighed. “It’s like Yoongi said.We have to get out of here. For them. Hopefully this caution is for nothing, but it’s better to be safe.”

Lucas wiped the unshed tears from his eyes and sniffed. “You’re right. Let’s go.”

“Sicheng, are you sure you are going to be okay?” Yuta asked, concerned. He was sitting in the bathroom, softly smoothing down his boyfriend’s hair after he just vomited for the second time that day. 

“I’m fine,” Sicheng breathed, sounding worn out. “All of this loss is just suddenly catching up with me.”

Yuta’s eyebrows remained knit together. “I’m worried about you. What if you are really getting sick?”

Sicheng weakly shook his head. “I just can’t handle these emotions anymore. We’ll be out of here soon though,” Sicheng looked up to met Yuta’s eyes. “Right?” Yuta’s heart clenched. He smiled sadly. 

“Yeah,” he whispered, rubbing comforting circles on Sigheng’s back. “We have to.”

Chan almost didn’t see it, the letter on Changbin’s bed. He was climbing numbly into his bed in the now more silent room when his eyes caught on a piece of paper. He moved to pick it up delicately, hands shaking. 

He only managed to read the first line before tears started to fill his eyes. He let out a sob as he made his way through the letter, bringing a hand to his mouth. He could barely make out the words through his tears and with how much he was shaking. He couldn’t believe he was really gone. 

Sicheng opened his eyes to darkness. For a moment, he panicked, terrified, before realizing it was simply still night. He felt Yuta by his side, arms wrapped around him comfortingly, and he felt grounded. It took Sicheng a moment to realize what had woken him up. 

The nausea rolled through him violently and he covered his mouth with his hand trying to stop himself from vomiting right then and there. Something about the day before had simply been the final straw for him; apparently he didn’t even have to be awake to feel sick over it all. 

Sicheng carefully slid out of his boyfriend’s embrace, slipping out of bed as quietly as he could. He didn’t want Yuta to worry for him any more then he already was. It would be quick. 

Sicheng rushed from their room, careful to be as silent as possible. He threw himself into the bathroom that was thankfully very close to their room and locked the door. Relieved to finally be able to get it out, Sicheng vomited once again. 

Breathing heavily, Sicheng almost wished he had woken up Yuta to comfort him again. He washed out his mouth with the tap water before quietly opening the door. He looked around warily before tiptoeing back in the direction of his room. He had almost made it to the door when he suddenly felt a hand cover his mouth.

Sicheng tried to scream, but the noise was effectively muffled and he didn’t even have time to think before something cold and sharp was being plunged into the side of his neck. Sicheng blinked rapidly, trying to refocus the world that was now spinning in front of him. He was so close to his room, so close to Yuta. He let out a muffled mix between a whimper and a sob and he was gone.


	12. Chapter XI: And Then There Were Nine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I have been having some issues writing this after meeting Stray Kids because I feel so bad. Changbin is my bias and I love him and Chan is an actual angel. Seriously, he is the sweetest person ever and I feel bad for what I am doing haha.  
But I love this way too much to quit. Just know that I love everyone one of these people. Thank you.

**Day 5**

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When Yuta woke up, he was alone. It took a moment for him to really wake up but the emptiness beside him was immediately evident when he did. It took him a moment to remember that it was a shrill shriek that had awoken him. 

His brain rushed to conclusions before he could even fully get out of bed. His heart was racing, fear pumping through him. He could feel an overwhelming sorrow in the fearful anticipation. All of his worst nightmare were rushing through his head, dread filling him as he ran down the hall. 

Jooheon was standing in the hallway, facing the bathroom on the right side, hand covering his mouth, horror painted on his face. The other guests were all slowly poking their heads out of their rooms and wandering in his direction. Yuta sprinted to him. He felt sick. 

Yuta’s impatience led him to push Jooheon out of the way without much of a thought. He could hear the water running before he saw what lie on the other side of the doorway. 

The anguished scream Yuta let out was heartbreaking to say the least; it was almost loud enough to wake the dead. Almost.

Jooheon stood frozen just outside of the doorway, unable to find it in himself to move any part of his body. It really wasn’t over. This game of horrors wasn’t over and they had lost someone else. 

All of the guests eventually gathered around the bathroom, hearts heavy. No one dared to enter. Minghao managed to wiggle his way to the front of the small crowd to fully take in the morbid scene. Yuta was just standing there, staring down down at the slowly filling bathtub as if in a state of complete and utter shock. 

It was only when Yuta finally collapsed to the ground at the edge of the bathtub that Minghao finally stepped in. He walked over to turn off the faucet just as the tub began to overflow. Only then was he finally able to take everything in. 

The porcelain white bathtub was filled past the brim with blood red water. Laying almost disturbingly peaceful within was the body of Sicheng. The boy lay fully clothed within the water, head propped up only slightly, just above the water. The wound in the side of his neck made it clear where the blood was coming from, but, other than that, he looked almost serene. 

Sicheng was pale from death, one arm extended out of the tub limply, outstretched. Thin lines of red ran down the sides of the tub, slowly trickling to the floor. What made the scene even more disturbing was all of the flower heads floating in the water with him. Minghao recognized the colorful flowers from the vase that was in the foyer. He cast his eyes downward to see the stems littering the bathroom floor.

Yuta grabbed at Sicheng’s extended hand, flinching at how frigid it was. He was sobbing so hard he could barely breathe. “Why,” he barely managed to force out. “Why did you go out without me? I promised I would protect you.” He reached out to touch Sicheng’s unusually cold face, sleeves soaking up the bloody water in the process. 

Taehyun’s heart shattered as he peered into the room. Sicheng looked so peaceful, almost beautiful, surrounded by flowers. It was so difficult for Taehyun to really process that he was dead. 

Jooheon stood staring at nothing, too scared to look into the room again. He was shaking. This still wasn’t over. 

The others all finally began to pour into the room to assess the grim situation. Still, no one spoke. The only sound echoing through the rather small room was Yuta’s heaving sobs as he further soaked himself in the water. 

After a while, Seungkwan finally found it in himself to speak up. Yuta was usually the one to get things moving again after things like this and it was strange for him to be so out of commission. 

“Should we . . . move the body and start another investigation?” Seungkwan hated to be the one to say it. He hated that they didn’t get to mourn their friends. He hated that they were gone. But if they didn’t do this, they would all suffer a similar fate.

“No,” Yuta sobbed, voice barely recognizable. 

“Yuta . . .” Lucas prompted lightly. 

“Just . . .” Yuta took a shaky breath, never looking away from Sicheng. “Give me a little longer . . .” They all understood. 

“I’ll stay here with him,” Chan offered warmly. No one really expected him to forgive them after they had killed his groupmate and tried to kill him, but he did anyways. He set a comforting hand on Yuta’s shoulder and Yuta leaned into it slightly to show his gratitude. 

Renjun ended up wandering to his room after leaving the bathroom. He needed a minute. He had lost one of his best friends only a few days ago and, since then, several more had also been taken away. The loss was weighing heavy on him, but he wasn’t stopping here. He pulled out his phone and began to type. 

Minghao made a point of staying close to Seungkwan as they searched. Guests were losing group members and significant others and Minghao was not ready to let someone so close to him go. There had been enough death already. He usually preferred to wander on his own a bit, but he was beginning to feel that was risky for more then just himself. 

Looking downstairs didn’t take long since the body was found upstairs. Whoever the killer was was bound determined to keep all evidence out of sight at all times. They certainly weren’t making this game easy. 

Yoongi and Taehyun were the first to search through the rooms on the right side of a hall. Taehyun could feel himself latching onto Yoongi again, the way he had when they first arrived. He had been scared to give anyone his trust, but something told him he could stick with Yoongi. After all the older had been through, Taehyun couldn’t find any reason in his mind that he would do this to them, trap them all here. But perhaps that was just his own wishful thinking. 

“We have to be missing something,” Yoongi pointed out as he lifted the blankets from Renjun’s bed. “We never found the weapon that was used to kill Donghyuk and Hongjoong and there was no sign of a weapon for this murder either.”

“It could have been a knife from the kitchen,” Taehyun offered. 

“No. You don’t believe that any more than I do. The wounds don’t match. Especially not this one.”

“What if they are keeping it on them?” Taehyun’s words sent a shiver down Yoongi’s spine. He was right. The killer could easily have weapons on them that no one knows about. It isn’t like they have actively been searching each other. The idea of one of the remaining guests being that sneaky, that _ready to kill_ at any moment, and right under their noses—it was chilling. 

“What is the point of even searching for evidence then? Surely they want to give us some sort of chance if this is a game,” Yoongi pointed out finally. 

“What if the killer really doesn’t want to die?” Taehyun asked, tearing the blankets off of what used to be Donghyuk’s bed. 

Both Yoongi and Taehyun froze as something shiny and metal fell to the floor. They shared a look of shock before Taehyun tentatively reached down to pick up what they had found. 

“Maybe we were given a chance after all.”


	13. Chapter XII: Evidence

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait! Here's another chapter!

**Day 5—Discussion**

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Yuta didn’t remember how to function. He had felt grief when he lost the other members, but losing _Sicheng_ hit different. He had lost his other half. And the pain was unbearable. 

The guests were all gathered in the foyer, something that was becoming disturbingly familiar. Everyone noticed the now empty vase. No one said anything about it. No one said anything at all. 

“We need to talk about this . . .” Minghao offered quietly. 

Yuta sighed. He opened his mouth, but he could barely get out the words. “I know.”

“Who was the first to find the body?” Lucas questioned. 

“M-Me,” Jooheon stammered. So far he had been able to stay mostly in the background, trying not to get too involved with much aside from moving bodies, but he had found the body this time. “I . . . heard water running. It was still dark outside . . . so I went to check to see what was going on and . . .”

Something about that didn’t sit right with Yuta. “Yoongi and Renjun’s rooms are the ones on either side of that bathroom.”

“I didn’t hear anything . . .” Renjun commented. Everyone looked to Yoongi who shook his head. 

“But I didn’t hear the footsteps Hoseok heard either . . .”

Taehyun was quick to change the topic. “But what was his body doing in the bathroom on the opposite side of the hall from his room?”

Yuta frowned. “I don’t know. I’m sure that if he was feeling sick he would just run to the closest bathroom.”

“So it had to have been the killer that brought him to the one on the right,” Chan concluded. “But why?”

“Either for convenience or to throw us off of his trail,” Minghao reasoned. “But that doesn’t exactly narrow anything down.”

“Is now a good time to bring up evidence?” Taehyun asked. 

Lucas’s eyes widened. “You found evidence?”

“And in someone’s room,” Yoongi added, reaching into his pocket to pull out a pair of dangerously sharp and perfectly polished silver scissors. A gasp made its way out of the mouth of each and every guest. 

Yuta took a wobbling step closer to Yoongi, taking the scissors from his hand. “Those fit the wound exactly . . .” he said quietly, voice wavering. 

“Do you think . . . Do you think those were used to kill Hongjoong and Donghyuk too?” Seungkwan asked. 

“I wouldn’t doubt it,” Taehyun responded. “Those things were made for killing.”

Yuta’s gaze pierced Yoongi’s soul. “Where did you find them?” 

“In Renjun’s room. They were under the blankets of Dongkyuk’s bed,” Yoongi replied, looking to Renjun nervously. 

“What!?” Renjun questioned breathlessly. 

Everyone who was near Renjun took a step back or scooted away. “Renjun . . .” Yuta began calmly, but everyone could hear the underlying danger in his voice. “Would you like to explain yourself?”

“What needs explaining? I didn’t put those there! I have never seen those things in my life!” Renjun looked thoroughly shocked. 

“Then how did they get there?” Lucas questioned suspiciously. 

“I don’t know!” Renjun was almost yelling. He seemed panicked, something the others had not seen from him. 

“Is there a chance that that really wasn’t the weapon?” Seungkwan asked to no one in particular. 

Yuta shook his head. “No. The wound didn’t match the size of any of the knives in the kitchen. They are also what was probably used to cut those flowers.”

“And besides that, there is no reason to have scissors like that here unless you were using them for murder,” Lucas accused. 

“Those really aren’t mine!” Renjun defended frantically. “Someone must have planted them there!”

“How?” Yoongi questioned. 

“Whoever trapped us here probably has access to all of the rooms,” Taehyun pointed out. 

“Or someone could have slipped it under the covers for someone else to find when we were investigating,” Minghao reasoned. 

“Someone like who?” Chan asked, eyebrows knit together. 

“Maybe the person who found the body first,” Yoongi reasoned after a moment of contemplation. “It just doesn’t make sense to me how Jooheon could have heard the water. I’m a deep sleeper, but Renjun didn’t hear it either. And even if he did hear the water running, why did he check it out?”

“That’s true . . .” Seungkwan conceded, biting his lip. “That is pretty suspicious.”

“If anything, that only incriminated Renjun more,” Jooheon argued. “Convenient that he didn’t hear the water running when he was so close to the bathroom and then the murder weapon was found in his room.” Jooheon didn’t like accusing someone like this. It didn’t feel right. But he also didn’t like the accusations suddenly being thrown at him. 

“I slept through Donghyuk leaving on the first night!” Renjun defended. 

“Or did you?” Taehyun said thoughtfully. 

“What do you mean?” Chan questioned. 

“Are you trying to imply that I killed my friend?” Renjun asked, upset.

“Maybe you didn’t mean for it to happen. How are we to know that you didn’t kill him because he almost caught you? “ Taehyun accused. 

“That is ridiculous!” Renjun shouted. “And does all of this mean we are just going to ignore what we found yesterday? What about Chan? The phone cord?”

“Chan swore up and down that that really wasn’t the weapon and, now, with Changbin dead and another murder on our hands, I am beginning to believe him,” Yoongi replied. 

“In this case though, it’s pretty clear that these were used . . .” Lucas gestured to the frighteningly sharp scissors still in Yuta’s trembling grasp.

There was a long silence. “These discussions don’t last as long anymore, do they?” Chan said somberly. 

“Not now that we are missing so many people . . .” Minghao added softly. 

“Maybe we should take some time to think on things again,” Yoongi suggested. No one disagreed. 

**Day 5—Voting**

Eight o’clock was the worst time of day. No one liked doing this, killing people. They had killed so many of their friends, but no talked about it. No one thought about it. They couldn’t. Not while they were still trying to make it out of here alive. People were dwindling and if they couldn’t get rid of the murderer, more people were going to die. 

“It’s been a while,” the familiar voice sang over the intercom. “Do you think you will finally get rid of me tonight?” No one answered. “Let’s see!”

“I wish, for once, that this could just be easy,” Seungkwan sighed. “That we could all come to the same, inevitable conclusion.”

Chan sighed sorrowfully. “If only it was that simple.”

Lucas frowned. They had evidence this time. They thought they did last time, but this was different. There was no way this could be wrong. As he started down at Renjun’s face on his bracelet, he felt the guilt eating him before he even submitted his vote. He felt like he was betraying the younger, but he couldn’t take anymore chances. 

Yuta knew that he should vote for Renjun. The evidence against him made the choice seem obvious. But, staring down at his face on the small screen, Yuta knew he couldn’t do it. No part of Yuta could see Renjun killing all of these people. He sometimes joked about offing the other Dreamies, but everyone knew he was joking. He loved them and could never really hurt anyone. A part of Yuta still knew that he could be wrong, but he comforted himself in the doubt he had in one of the other guests. If there was no one else, Yuta would have accepted Renjun was the main suspect, but Yuta didn’t like Jooheon’s story. Something about it didn’t sit well with him. Jooheon had done nothing to upset Yuta before, so he still felt guilty about suspecting him. That was why he hurried to submit his vote before he could change his mind. He just hoped he wouldn’t regret anything tonight. He couldn’t take much more of this. 

Renjun didn’t know what to do. He knew all of the blame was on him. The evidence against him was overwhelming. If the others were going to base their decisions on supposed murder weapons found in rooms, so was he. 

“All votes have been entered.”

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“Renjun has received the most votes.” Renjun hung his head. He wasn’t surprised. Not after how that discussion had gone. But that didn’t make this any easier. “May you rest in peace.”

The worst part was the anticipation. The pause before the end finally came. Everyone waited for it in a morbid silence. Renjun took a deep, steadying breath before it hit. It hurt more than he wanted it to, but soon, it was over. 

All of the remaining guests started at the beautiful boy who now lay lifeless on the sofa. He looked disturbingly peaceful. 

“I just wish we knew now,” Yoongi said, heart heavy. “I wish we didn’t have to wait overnight in fear of someone else dying. I hate it.”

“We all do,” Chan sighed.

“He just looks like he is sleeping,” Yuta choked. He didn’t realize he was crying until he tried to speak.

“He is, in a way,” Lucas almost whispered. His eyes were also teary. 

None of the guests were eager to return to their rooms and act like nothing happened once again, the pain of loss lying heavily upon them. They had allowed Yuta and Lucas to be the ones to take the body to the basement. A dark cloud of death hung over everyone’s heads. No one forgot the way Sicheng finally let all of the killing get to him. It wasn’t just the murders that had made him sick, it was they way they were killing their friends. And all for what? They kept getting it wrong. They were all still there. Unknowingly, the same thoughts finally wormed their way into the minds of all of the guests. The murderer might be killing someone every night, but, really, were they any better?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The guests are dwindling. Who do you think will make it out alive? Do you think they got the killer right this time?
> 
> Also, I love all of your theories; you are all so clever.


	14. Chapter XIII: Fate

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The pain of loss still weighed heavily on Yoongi’s heart and he knew he wasn’t ready to return to that room again. Some of the guests went back to their rooms, some stayed in the foyer. No one spoke. No one knew what to say. 

Yoongi knew he should go back to his room, wait to see if they had finally made the right decision, but he couldn’t find it in himself to go back there. It hurt, lying in a bed that felt so empty without Hoseok. Every moment he lie in it the memory of how he betrayed his boyfriend haunted him. Yoongi just wasn’t quite ready to face that again. 

Instead, Yoongi quietly made his way to the library. No one ever really visited the room seeing as they really had no time for leisure. As Yoongi took in the sight, he marveled at the majesty of the room. The walls were lined with tall bookshelves, every one filled with books of seemingly every genre. There were sofas and chairs, side tables, a coffee table. It would be a lovely place to spend time if this really had only been a party. Yoongi’s eyes drifted to the back of the room where a computer sat on an old desk. The computer looked old, defunct, but it had still given them temporary hope when they first found it. 

However, much to everyone’s despair, the old brick of a device didn’t even turn on; it was nothing more than a decoration to accent the the library of this old mansion. As Yoongi wandered over to the sofa, planning to spend some time alone, his eyes caught on something that made his heart almost stop. 

Yoongi froze, eyes widening as he stared at the cord running from the computer to the wall. His eyes followed the thick cable from the end of the computer to where it fell just short of the outlet, unplugged. Yoongi’s blood ran cold. He was sure that had been plugged in when they got here. The computer didn’t work either way, but that is not what he was concerned about. 

A memory of Jungwoo’s body flashed in Yoongi’s mind. He tried his best to remember the marks around his neck. Luckily (or unluckily, depending on how he looked at it), the image of every corpse had burned itself permanently into Yoongi’s mind. Yoongi thought of how thin the phone charger was. The marks on Jungwoo’s neck seemed as if they had come from something a little more sizable, but the phone charger had made perfect sense at the time as it was all they found. How had they ever missed this? Yoongi stared at the computer cable in a ghastly mix of shock and horror, at how it matched the markings almost perfectly. If this didn’t prove just how faulty all of their logic always was, he didn’t know what would. This meant that the entire reason they blamed Chan, the reason they _killed_ Changbin, was their inability to properly search for evidence. Sure, they were no world class detectives, but they should be able to find enough evidence to discredit themselves from killing their friends.

Thoughts raced through his mind. Everything they seemed to conclude was always wrong. What made this time different? There had to be something they were missing. Something that connected all of these murders. 

As Yoongi turned to tell the others of his discoveries, he suddenly felt a heavy object being thrown into him. No . . . not an object, a person. It took Yoongi’s brain too long to process what was happening. By the time he finally processed that he was being attacked, he had already been thrown onto the sofa and his attacker was holding him down. Yoongi gasped for breath just before a pillow was shoved over his face, pressing him further into the disturbingly plush furniture. 

Yoongi panicked. What else could he do? He clawed at the assailant he couldn't see. He grasped at the arms of the murderer, but his grip was weak with the lack of oxygen entering his lungs. He was trying desperately to suck in air, but his strenuous attempts were only making the process quicker.

Changing his strategy, Yoongi tried to pry the pillow from his face, kicking as violently as he could manage. He tried to scream, but it made nary a sound, entirely muffled by the very thing that was being used to slowly kill him. He could feel tears stinging in his eyes as the energy slowly began to fade from his body. 

The process was painfully slow and terrifying, but Yoongi was not giving up. He fought until he couldn’t move. Tried to breath until his lungs finally accepted that they were not getting any more air. In the final moments, the moments before he was truly gone, Yoongi thought of Hoseok. He had wanted so badly to avenge him. To get out of here and survive despite everything they had been through. He didn’t want his death to be for nothing. 

In those last moments, Yoongi thought despair would consume him in the last fraction of time he got. However, something changed. As the world finally began to fade away from him, Yoongi felt at peace. Like the smiling ray of sunshine he loved in the waking world, Yoongi felt a warm feeling envelop him, replacing all of the pain, all of the fear. He would finally get to be with Hoseok again and, even after all of this, he already knew that he forgave him. It might have been his imagination, but Yoongi could have sworn that, right before his heart finally stopped, he heard the voice of his boyfriend repeating the same words he had said to him only days before; “It’s going to be okay.”

Jooheon sighed, eyes wandering in the direction of the basement. It was eerie thinking about how many of their friends lie down there; people they would never see again, or, at least, not alive. They had all gotten so used to this twisted environment. Somehow, terrifyingly, these deaths were beginning to feel normal and Jooheon hated it.   
In this moment, sitting alone in the foyer, likely the last to go to bed, Jooheon allowed himself to think of something other than this terrifying dollhouse. He wondered if the other members were still looking for him. It had been days since he managed to get himself trapped here and he wondered what the limit was. What did the fans think? Surely, with all of these idols suddenly going missing, someone would have some sort of lead. Maybe they were close to finding them already. 

Jooheon comforted himself with thoughts of rescue. He hoped they would get out tomorrow, but his heart still felt heavy. Even if they were right, even if they were able to escape in the morning, would anyone forgive them for what they did? Jooheon might not be the one who trapped them all here, but, in a way, he was still a killer. They all were. Would anyone really be able to forgive them for all of the death that they had caused?

Jooheon stands to finally head to his room. He doesn’t even make it fully to his feet before he feels himself being yanked violently back down. There is something cold around his neck before he can process what is going on. Survival instinct kicks in faster than the rest of Jooheon’s brain. He tries to twist himself around to fight the person behind him, but is stopped when his assailant gives another sharp tug to the grayish cord Jooheon barely caught a glimpse of. 

The force knocked the hair out of Jooheon, causing him to choke, but he wasn’t giving up yet. He reached back and managed to grab a hand. His heartbeat raced in fear and anticipation. He tried to pry the hand away, but was overcome with horror when he felt the arm come closer; the attacker was wrapping the cord around his neck again, tighter. 

Jooheon clawed at the cord around his neck, trying desperately to pull it away from him. He needed air, he needed to _breathe_. He was gasping, fumbling.

As Jooheon’s lungs finally began to realize they weren’t getting the oxygen they needed, as Jooheon’s body grew weak, Jooehon hated the thoughts in his head. He should have known better than to be down here alone, even for a moment. This was how Jungwoo died and now Jooheon was going the exact same way, all because of his carelessness. 

Jooheon blinked away tears and finally accepted his fate. He hoped with all of his heart that the others could do what he was unable to; he hoped they would leave this godforsaken place; he hoped they would live.


	15. Chapter XIV: Will This Ever End?

**Day 6**

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Minghao couldn’t sleep that night. But, then again, he never really could sleep well in this house. He closed his eyes tightly as the sun started to filter through the curtains. He knew he needed to get up. 

Minghao dragged his sleep-deprived body to the window, pulling the curtains open. He could feel the sun on his skin and allowed himself the smallest fraction of hope. Maybe they would finally be free today. 

He startled as he heard a rustling behind him. He turned around to see Seungkwan pulling himself out of bed sleepily, glaring in the direction of the window. 

“Bright,” he grumbled in complaint. Minghao offered his friend an apologetic smile and pulled the curtains back over the window. 

That’s when they heard the scream. It almost felt as if they shouldn’t be surprised anymore, not after finding a new body every night. But Minghao supposed every one of them went to sleep at night with the hope that this would all end. It was a rude awakening every morning to be proven so wrong. 

This time, it was not one scream, but two. Minghao sighed and met Seungkwan’s eyes before leaving the room. 

Taehyun never liked waking up to screaming. It only solidified the fact that he was living in some sick, twisted horror movie. He was always scared to check, but he knew he couldn’t stay in his room all day.

By the time Taehyun made it to the stairs, the other guests were already gathered along the banister. He can’t see what they are looking at but he was afraid to find out.

Slowly, cautiously, Taehyun made his way to down the stairs until he could peer over the railing. He recoiled at what he saw. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but a body hanging from the banister was not it. 

Taehyun quietly crept past the others and down the stairs. He wanted to see this from the floor. 

Upon getting a better look from the foyer, Taehyun could now see that the body belonged to Jooheon. The older’s neck was bent at a sickening angle, but, at the same time, it didn’t look broken. Taehyun squinted the the corpse. 

“He wasn’t hanged,” Taehyun found himself saying aloud. 

“What do you mean?!” Lucas retorted incredulously. “Are you blind? He is literally hanging from the railing!”

Taehyun shook his head. “No. Well, I mean, yes, I can see that. But I mean that isn’t how he died.” Taehyun pointed at the rope around their friend’s neck. “Look at the bruising. It doesn’t match where the cord is on his neck. The rope was moved. His neck also doesn’t look broken.”

The other guests finally flooded down the stairs to observe that Taehyun had pointed out.

“This is so sick,” Yuta commented with disgust. “The way we talk about this like it’s normal.”

“What are we supposed to do?” Seungkwan defended. “If we don’t look at things like this, we could be next. It’s terrible, but we don’t have time to mourn.”

Chan looked up at Jooheon sadly. “He won’t be forgotten. None of them will. When we get out of here we will have the time to finally mourn over everyone that was lost here. But first, we need to make these murders finally stop.”

“I see what Taehyun means,” Minghao spoke up suddenly, staring at the body. “But why strangle someone only to hang them afterward?”

“It’s a statement,” Taehyun said, eyes wide in realization. “That’s no phone cord.”

Every guest felt a chill run up their spine at the youngest’s words and their implication. 

“Jungwoo . . .” Lucas choked out.

An image of Jungwoo’s corpse flashed vividly in Yuta’s head. “Those marks. They were exactly the same. Changbin . . .”

“This isn’t just a statement,” Minghao realized. “It’s a challenge. The killer is rubbing our failure in our faces.”

“Wait,” Taehyun said, interrupting everyone’s conversation. “Where is Yoongi?” The other guests looks around, finally noticing his absence.

“Is it really possible for him to have slept through that?” Seungkwan inquired. 

“Yes,” Teahyun replied. “It is possible. But it seems unlikely.”

“I can go check his room,” Chan offered, happy to escape the reminder of their failure and his groupmate’s death.

While Chan left to retrieve Yoongi, the others guests discussed the body they had on their hands. 

“We should lower him to the ground in the very least. It’s terrible to see him hanging up there,” Seungkwan commented. 

“How do we do that carefully though?” Lucas asked. 

“I’ll go up and untie him from the banister. Wait at the bottom to lower him to the ground. I’ll try to let him down slowly,” Yuta said.

They did just that. Yuta fumbled with the cord. He tried not to let his hands shake too much as he started at the outlet end. How had they missed this? Yuta wasn’t entirely ready for the weight when he finally detached the cord and almost completely dropped Jooheon. He took a deep breath and steadied himself. Lucas and Minghao, being the two tallest, helped him carefully lower the body to the ground. 

When Yuta came back down the stairs, he joined the others in gathering around the corpse. No matter how many times he had to to it, he would never get used to looking at bodies. 

“Where did this cord even come from?” Taehyun asked.

“The computer,” Minghao breathed. “How could we forget about the computer?”

Everyone drew in a collective breath. “It’s easy to forget the thing exists when it doesn’t work,” Seungkwan defends. 

“That means the the killer really didn’t try to throw us off. We really just failed,” Yuta sighed miserably. 

Chan chose this moment to begin descending the stairs . . . alone. No one needed to ask anything for him to know what they were wondering. 

“He wasn’t in his room,” Chan reported worriedly. “Or either of the bathrooms. I walked down the halls calling for him just in case, and still nothing.”

The fear finally began to settle into every one of the remaining guests as all of their memories were drawn back to the first night. The first time they had to do all of this, there had not been only one murder. 

“No,” Taehyun said, voice barely audible. He sounded like he was going to be sick.

“Where would he be?” Minghao questioned carefully. 

“I think I might have an idea,” Yuta said, mouth dry. Everyone turned to see him staring at a door. A door almost no one used, because why would they? It was almost useless in a situation like this. 

“The library,” Chan breathed, eyes tracing back to the cord, connecting the dots. 

The group made their way to the room slowly, all too frightened to open the door. Lucas stepped up and slowly swung it open, looking away in fear of what might lie inside. He didn’t dare to peek until the door was open wide enough for the others to see in around him. When he did, he couldn’t help but to gasp and cover his mouth.

All of their darkest thoughts had come to fruition. Yoongi really was dead. There had been two deaths that night. 

Yoongi’s body lie on the sofa as if he was lounging. On of his arms was wrapped around a throw pillow while the other was draped over the arm of the seat, ominously pointed towards the computer. This wasn’t just a murder, this was a full display of mockery. They were failing miserably to find the murderer and he was enjoying it. 

“But how did he . . .” Seungkwan began shakily. 

“He’s holding the murder weapon,” Minghao said breathlessly, nodding towards the pillow before averting his gaze from the sight. That all it took for them to notice the purplish tint to Yoongi's face from the lack of oxygen. Other than that, Yoongi was almost entirely unmarked, like the perfect doll. 

Taehyun wiped at tears that threatened to spill from his eyes. He refused to be weak, but he couldn't help the slight pain in his heart at the sight. He had picked himself back up after Hoseok’s death and made it his mission to avenge him. 

“You did well,” he whispered, even if he knew Yoongi couldn’t hear him. The other guests nodded solemnly. 

“Maybe . . .” Yuta began carefully. “Maybe we should all go down to the morgue this time . . . There’s so few of us already. Maybe we should see them off together.” No one was ready to disagree. 

The remaining guests all stared at the compartments storing the bodies of all of their friends in silence, hearts heavy. 

“I know it might not mean much, especially given the murderer is among us, but I kind of wanted to just remember what everyone did for us all. None of them deserved to die.” Yuta’s words hit pretty hard. “Hongjoong was ready to help us from the beginning. He seemed so dedicated to getting us out, no matter what it took. It isn’t fair just how little time he had to do so. And Donghyuk . . . He was like a little brother. I loved him. All of the members did. We didn’t even have time to mourn. We were immediately thrown into this evil game. I just . . . miss him. It’s so weird thinking I’ll never be annoyed by him again.” Yuta was tearing up. 

The others weren’t going to let the memories stop there. This felt like a sort of memorial. Something they never really had time for up until now. They were so focused on trying to get out that they really didn’t have time to stop and think about just how much they had lost. They still needed to investigate, but this felt . . . necessary. 

“Jacob was terrified before he even knew anything bad was going to happen,” Seungkwan remembered with a sigh. “He was so scared and so alone. The only person who stuck with him in the beginning was killed and then he was blamed for it. He was so scared and we accused him of _murder_. It’s something I can’t forget.”

“Yugyeom saved us,” Minghao said softly. “I think we can all acknowledge that. He might not have gotten us out of here, but he gave us another chance when we desperately needed one. He sacrificed himself trying to save us. He is nothing less than a hero.”

“Hoseok didn’t deserve what he got. We all thought we were doing the right thing. We always do. But we are never right. He was such a sweet person, but so easily frightened. He didn’t know how to cope with everything that was happening as it was. He was scared. But he would never really hurt anyone.” Taehyun hung his head. 

“Jungwoo . . .” Lucas began, voice wavering as he looked to where he knew his boyfriend lie. “He . . . he should be here right now. I should have protected him. He was an angel. He wouldn’t hurt a fly. He was just trying to get out like the rest of us, just trying to live. He . . . shouldn't have been alone.” Lucas couldn’t stop the tears. Everyone gave him a moment of silence. 

“Changbin never did anything. He just wanted to do what was right. He wanted to get out of here and see the other members again, to see Felix again. I thought I could keep him safe, make sure that there was no question he would make it out of this alive. It should have been me. We share that room. It should have been me that was executed. Even if you were all wrong about the phone cord, I’d rather be the mistake. He didn’t deserve it.” Chan’s lip quivered, but he fought the tears, taking a steadying breath.

“He was too good for this world,” Yuta choked out. “Sicheng was too _good_ for this cruel reality. He still looked so _peaceful_, even in death. He couldn’t take all of this murder, all of this evil. I wanted to protect him. I promised him we would make it out of this together. I _promised_ him. This isn’t how it was supposed to go. I miss him so much.” Yuta was sobbing by the time he made it halfway through his speech. Hearts broke.

“And we blamed Renjun for killing him. He loved him as much as any of us, and we thought he killed him. The evidence seemed so clear, but I suppose it always does.” Lucas sounded as defected as they all felt. 

“Yoongi stuck with me from the beginning,” Taehyun said with a sad smile. “Him and Hoseok both. They didn’t have to do that. But they did. I just wish I had the chance to make it up to them. Yoongi tried to help us all from the beginning. We likely couldn’t have done much without him. He was hurting, but he still picked himself up and tried to get us all out of here. It was looking out for all of us that made him suspect Hoseok to begin with.” Taehyun paused. “At least they are together now.”

“Jooheon was always so kind and helpful. He was always willing to help carry bodies down and was always there when anyone needed him. We can’t let him die in vain. We can’t let any of them die in vain,” Seungkwan decided resolutely. 

“And it’s not just them that need appreciation,” Chan said. “You all deserve recognition as well. One of us is dying tonight and we can only hope that it’s finally the one who caused all of this, but you all need to know that you are fighters. You all helped us get through everything, whether it be problem solving or just . . . being there. I don’t know which one of you did this, but I don’t want to make any assumptions and demean what everyone one of you has done to try and get us all out. Thank you.”

“You’re pretty important yourself, Chan,” Yuta said with a sad smile. “You keep us together. Even when we blamed you and killed your groupmate under false evidence, you still forgave us. You try to be comforting and you were there for me when . . ." Yuta couldn't finish the sentence. "Thank you too.”

“I don’t want this moment of peace to end, but we probably need to start looking for evidence,” Minghao pointed out with a frown.

“I just want this to be over,” Taehyun sighed sadly. 

“We all do,” Seungkwan replied solemnly.

As they all searched restlessly, it soon became disturbingly clear to all of the remaining guests that there was no evidence to find. Nothing about these murders seemed to point to any specific person, not yet at least. The voting was going to rely almost solely on their discussion, a thought that terrified them all.


	16. Chapter XV: How to Decide

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have officially finished writing this story. Now it just comes down to proofreading to the best of my ability and posting the chapters.
> 
> I will be making an alternate ending for this because I feel bad about what I am doing. I will also be writing a version of the story from the killer's perspective and a one shot of what happened outside of the mansion while the killing game was going down (i.e. the public's reaction, the effect on the groups, etc.) So please keep a lookout on my account for those once this officially ends.
> 
> Thank you for reading and making it this far! And thank you to those of you who have been playing along!

**Day 6—Discussion**

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When it was time for discussion, the guests had already been gathered in the foyer. There were so few of them now that they knew this couldn’t possibly last as long as it used to in the past. It was an eerie thought, that one of the six people in the room was the one who had been killing all of their friends. 

"This case is nearly impossible,” Minghao pointed out for them all. “But that just means we are going to have to focus on every little detail possible.”

“The murder weapons are obvious this time,” Lucas pointed out. “But there’s also no real way for us to trace them back to anyone.”

“And it’s not like we can use alibis. The only two of us left that share a room are Seungkwan and Minghao,” Taehyun said with a frown. 

“And the only one of us left that would still be suspicious from another night is Chan,” Yuta added thoughtfully. “But the computer cord pretty much negates that because he was suspicious because we thought the phone cord in his room was used to kill Jungwoo.”

“I’m sure everyone will claim to have been in their rooms at last night too, right?” Chan asked almost rhetorically. 

“Then maybe it comes down to why Yoongi would be in the library to begin with,” Seungkwan thought aloud. “No one ever goes in there. There is no reason to.”

“Maybe he just didn’t want to go back to his room,” Lucas reasoned. “It always hurts to see the bed and know you’re now the only one sleeping in it.” Yuta nodded in solemn agreement.

“Or he could have been talking to someone. Maybe the killer managed to get him alone before he went up to his room,” Chan pointed out.

“Yoongi wouldn’t trust just anyone. Not in a situation like this,” Yuta added. All eyes went to one guest. 

Taehyun’s eyes widened. “What!? You don’t seriously think it was me!”

“He trusted you,” Chan said biting his lip, guilt showing in his body language at the accusation. 

“This is how we ended up killing Jacob,” Taehyun pointed out. “And my case is similar. I would never hurt Yoongi. I couldn’t. I relied on him.”

“Yeah, but you were also the one who pointed out that Jooheon wasn’t hanged and you seem to know a little too much every time we investigate bodies.”

“Would you rather I don’t try to solve things?” Taehyun asked incredulously. “I told you I enjoyed mysteries back before all of this happened. I was just trying to be helpful in these awful situations!”

He had a little bit of a point, and this made the others guests quiet for a moment; did they expect him not to try and analyze the bodies and help them solve this? He was certainly doing a better job than the rest of them. But that didn’t mean it wasn’t suspicious. 

It took them a moment of looking between each other before they realized there was someone who had not said anything in a very long time. 

“Minghao,” Yuta began carefully. “Is there a reason you are so quiet?”

“That thing . . . about Seungkwan and I being the only ones with alibis. I don’t know how true that is . . .”

No one knew what he was talking about. “What do you mean?” Lucas asked for all of them.

“Last night . . . Seungkwan didn’t get back to the room until late at night.” All eyes went to Seungkwan, suspicion festering.

“I . . . needed some alone time,” Seungwkan said in his defense, sounding somewhat more forlorn than panicked. 

“At night? When there could still be a murder lurking the halls?” Taehyun questioned suspiciously. 

Seungkwan sighed dramatically. “I don’t know when else! During the day we are always looking for clues to figure out which one of us murdered our friends. Excuse me for taking some time to just sit and think things through outside all of this stress and pain.”

“Are we functioning on the assumption that all of this was done before Jooheon and Yoongi made it back to their rooms?” Yuta questioned. 

“That’s the only reason I can think they would be down here,” Chan replied. 

“So exactly when Seungkwan was missing,” Lucas concluded with a frown.

The others could tell that Minghao felt guilty for bringing up what he did. “What what about why Yoongi was in the library?” Minghao asked. “He surely wouldn’t follow Seungkwan into there alone. He didn’t trust anyone here as much as he trusted Taehyun.”

“The killer could have moved him there,” Taehyun argued. “It is something he has done before. It could have been just to help prove his point with the computer cord.”

“That makes a lot of sense,” Chan agreed, but his tone didn’t suggest that that let Taehyun off of the hook. If anything, his tone was more suspicious than anything else. 

“It really wasn’t me,” Seungkwan defended, but, contrary to his usual personality, there was no bite behind his words. It was clear this whole situation really had taken a toll on him. “But I don’t want to suspect any of you either. I know that I was crying alone in the bathroom, whether you all believe me or not. The idea of one of you doing all of this isn't something I want to think about, but it’s something I have to accept. I feel like we have all come so far I just . . . hate all of this doubt.”

“It’s necessary,” Lucas said without remorse. “Don’t get me wrong, I want to trust all of you, but one of you killed Jungwoo and that is something I cannot live with. I want the killer gone.” Lucas looked between all of the other guests, eyes vaguely teary. “Whoever you are, just know that I hate you. And, so long as I live, I will never stop trying to find you and make you pay for what you did, all of these people you have killed. It’s sick.”

“But who do we blame?” Chan asked quietly.

Lucas’s eyes flicked to his most likely suspect. “I guess the vote will decide. We have said almost all we can. Now we just have to rely on each other and fate.”

**Day 6—Voting**

They didn’t have much time before eight o’ clock rolled around once again. Seungkwan flinched as the intercom clicked on. 

“Still here, I see,” the voice sang, filling the six remaining guests with dread. “Well, you all know what time it is. Pick your victim!”

No one likes the wording their host had chosen for the night. Something about the word “victim” seemed to turn the tables on them, making them the bad guys. 

Minghao knew Seungkwan was suspicious, he pointed it out himself, but he couldn't help the deep-rooted trust he had in his groupmate. Minghao hoped that the other would be able to better negate his claims, make him feel better about where he was, but something was really off. Ordinarily, Seungkwan would defend himself until he wore himself out, but this time he just . . . didn’t. Minghao hated it. He hoped that Seungkwan would easily clear all of his suspicions and they would make it out of here together, but all he seemed to do was incriminate himself more. 

Even thought Seungkwan didn’t seem eager to vehemently fight for his life like his groupmate expected, Minghao still could not help but to believe in him. The image of Seungkwan finally breaking down and feeling the need to separate himself to cry alone broke Minghao’s heart. And that image fit so well with the broken Seungkwan that sat with them in the foyer now.

A small part of Minghao hoped the others wouldn’t vote for him, even if he knew there was a chance we was behind this all. Minghao felt guilty and he felt like he was wrong, but he submitted his vote. 

Seugkwan frowned, swiping through the pictures on his wrist. He could already feel that this was the end for him and he didn’t understand why he was accepting it. There was a part of him deep down screaming for him to fight, to deny everything, but he just couldn’t anymore. Something about last night was just too much for him. 

Seungkwan paused, looking down at Taehyun’s face, but he couldn’t bring himself to submit the vote. Those wide, innocent eyes were almost begging him not to. His mind lingered on the second trial. He swiped until he landed on the person he wanted, submitting his vote before he could change his mind. 

“All votes have been entered.”

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“Seungkwan has received the most votes.” Seungkwan wished he could feel something in that moment, but he couldn’t even bring himself to be afraid. Not after all of this. “May you rest in peace.”

It was barely noticeable when the electric shock shot through Seungkwan’s body. He slumped further into the sofa. Minghao reached out to touch him, drawing his hand back just before it met with his skin. He sniffled. 

Minghao shook his head and looked up to the others, fighting tears. “I hope it was him. I really, _really_ hope it’s over now.”

The guests returned to their rooms the same way they always seemed to; hoping for the best, but expecting the worst.


	17. Chapter XVI: False Hope

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All of these chapters are officially proofread! After JinJin finally managed to get past Hoseok's death, he read the rest of the story through to the end, so this chapter and the ones following have actually been proofread. Yay!

**Day 7**

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The sun woke Yuta up. He was surprised he had slept at all. He kept the curtains open, spending more time than he was willing to admit the previous night staring at the stars. The mansion was relatively far from any big cities so the sky was mostly clear. As he had looked at the constellations, he couldn’t help but wonder if Sicheng was watching him. 

Yuta slid out of the too big bed, stumbling sleepily to the door. He hesitated before turning the handle. He was so scared of discovering another body. He didn’t want to go down those stairs again and find someone else dead. He wanted this vicious cycle to finally be over. 

As Yuta slowly made his way down the hall, he saw Lucas peeking out of his room as well. He couldn’t help the sigh of relief that escaped his lips. 

“It’s nice to see you,” Yuta admitted, smiling at his friend as he joined him on his way to the foyer. 

“You too,” Lucas replied, voice scratchy. Yuta couldn't tell if it was from sleep or from crying. Yuta didn’t doubt it was both. 

They were the first up once again, settling in the empty foyer. It was eerily quiet, but there was no body hanging from the banister this time, that much was a relief. 

“I never like waiting,” Lucas admitted. “It’s too nerve-racking. I just need to know if everyone is still alive.”

“They will be down soon,” Yuta said surely. “They have to be.”

Lucas couldn’t help but stare intently at the stairs, waiting. His stomach growled, but he couldn’t bring himself to go to the kitchen before the others came down. He was terrified. 

When Chan descended the staircase Lucas felt his hopes rising. He offered the pair a friendly smile and joined them in their waiting. Little conversation was made as the group waited in anticipation. They realized they could wake the others up, but they were all scared of finding another body. They just wanted to see their friends alive.

Lucas spotted Taehyun at the top of the stairs only to watch him pause, turning around. Lucas felt his heart stop. Taehyun smiled softly, waiting, until someone joined him. 

Lucas almost sobbed in relief as Taehyun and Minghao descended the staircase together. They were all here. They were all still alive. 

When Taehyun and Minghao joined them in the foyer, they looked around in visible confusion. 

“Wait . . . Is everyone . . . Is everyone still alive?” Taehyun sounded breathless. 

Lucas couldn’t hold the sob in. He couldn't help it. He reached over and hugged Yuta, nearly squeezing the life out of him. “It’s over,” he breathed. “We’re all still alive.”

Taehyun was shaking. “Is this really over?” 

“Does this mean we will be able to get out tonight? The announcement said the doors would unlock twenty-four hours after the killer died.” The hope in Chan’s voice fueled them all. 

“I don’t want to wait anymore!” Lucas complained loudly. “We did it! I want out now!”

Yuta was crying. Relief coursing through him. “This can’t be real.”

“Does that mean . . . “ Minghao began softly. “Does that mean Seungkwan was the killer?” The others quieted. “I wanted to get out, but I didn’t want it to be him. I didn’t want it to be him that did all of this to us. I trusted him.”

“There was a part of me that was hoping it wasn’t really any of us,” Chan admitted. “That someone else was making us all do this, but I realized that would be so much worse. That would mean we were all senselessly killing each other trying to find a killer that didn’t exist. It would mean we couldn’t win.”

“I’m sorry,” Taehyun apologized, not really knowing what for. “I don’t know why he did this, but it’s over now.”

Minghao took a deep, steadying breath and attempted to smile. “Yeah . . . it is.”

After a little longer of reveling in relief and disbelief, Yuta glanced down to his wristband for the time. “It’s almost nine,” he announced. “Since we are stuck here for another eleven hours we might as well grab some breakfast and try to forget all of the bad for the time being.”

“That sounds nice,” Lucas mused. “Actually eating together.” Everyone smiled at the idea.

Yuta and Chan agreed to be the cooks for the morning. There was still a rather large amount of food in the house; they had already been here seven days, but their numbers were much _much_ lower than when they had arrived. 

“I don't know how Seungkwan did this, but he sure managed to get a lot of really good food into this house,” Yuta mused. 

“You got that right,” Chan said, marveling at the selection in the fridge. With all of the investigation going on, they only ever really had time to grab food in between their searching; there was never really time for any full meals.

Lucas absolutely lit up as he ran into the kitchen and saw the food when Yuta announced that it was ready. “This looks amazing!”

“Thank you,” Yuta and Chan replied at the same time. 

When everyone grabbed their plates and took their seats at the dining table, they were amazed by how calm they felt. It was strange to sit anywhere in this house and not feel fear for once. 

“This is nice,” Taehyun commented with a smile, taking a bite of his freshly cooked breakfast. 

“It really is,” Chan sighed between bites. 

It took them a moment to notice. 

As the other talked, Minghao smiled, taking a small bite. But a small bite was all it took. 

Minghao’s eyes widened. It was sudden, the pain. He couldn’t breathe. It happened so fast Minghao had no time to process it. He looked around in fear, terror making him tremble. His eyes fell back down to his food in horror. Poison. 

He felt himself lose all control of his body, energy fading faster than he could think. This was the end. They were wrong. The killer wasn’t dead. Minghao couldn’t even make a sound. He hated that the last thing he felt was relief. Some part of him felt at peace, as strange as it was, just knowing that Seungkwan didn’t do this. 

However, Minghao’s heart still ached with the betrayal. He had been allowed hope and that was the cruelest part of all. Few things hurt more than false hope.


	18. Chapter XVII: Final

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Taehyun screamed. He was the first to notice, but, even then, it was only when it was finally over. He caught the movement out of the corner of his eye, looking over in time to see Minghao’s slump over into his food. Taehyun covered his mouth in shock.

The sound of chair legs scraping against the floor filled the room as all of the guests stumbled into standing positions in fear. 

“No no no no no,” Lucas wailed, backing away from the table. “This was supposed to be over.”

Chan blinked away tears. They were all overwhelmed with emotions. They had really thought that this nightmare was all over. The body of their friend lying in front of them shook them all to their cores. They had let their guard down according to false hope. 

“Why,” Yuta cried. “Why now?”

Taehyun was shaking violently. “No, this can’t be right. It was Seungkwan. No one died last night. We got the murderer. This is all _wrong_.”

Chan walked tentatively over to Minghao. “That could have been any of us. He just happily ate his meal, believing like we all did that we were safe.”

“And one of us betrayed him,” Lucas bit back. “There are only four of us left now. That doesn’t leave many options.” He glared at the others around him pointedly. 

Taehyun pouted, terrified and betrayed. He thought they had all agreed that they didn’t want to suspect each other. He hated all of the doubt that was so easily thrown around. But he also hated that this wasn't over, that one of the people here was the murderer.

Knowing that one of the people standing in the dining room was the person who had set all of this up, the person who was responsible for all of these deaths, terrified all of the guests to no end. Every last one of them was shaking. 

“What . . .” Chan began shakily. “What do we do now?”

“It won’t take us long to look for clues,” Yuta pointed out. “We have already searched this house a million times. I have a feeling we won’t find anything all too useful this time either.”

“It’s already obvious,” Lucas interjected. “Only two of you cooked this meal.”

Yuta’s eyes widened. “What?” His question was breathless. “Are you seriously suspecting me?” Yuta was hurt. Lucas only shrugged. Yuta’s eyes darted over to Chan who was looking at Minghao with his eyebrows knit together. He glared. 

Chan looked up to meet his eye. “Don’t look at me like that!” the other cried, hurt. “You were with me the whole time!”

“Let’s just—” Taehyun was quick to interrupt. “Investigate first. We can meet back in the foyer at the usual time.” He heaved a sigh, sounding resigned and sad. 

Yuta glared at Chan as Lucas glared at them both. None of them noticed Taehyun wander into the kitchen. 

Just as he thought . . . not a sign of anything that could have been used to kill Minghao. Taehyun remembered the light smile on Minghao’s face before breakfast. He remembered the relief. His heart squeezed. 

Chan, Yuta, and Lucas managed to get along long enough to carry Minghao to the morgue, but not a minute longer. They all split up immediately afterwards to search a house they knew held nothing they needed. 

Chan didn’t look for too long. He didn’t see the point. He knew he was a suspect just as much as Yuta was. Even if he was just trying to cheer everyone up with breakfast, there was no avoiding the suspicion. 

Chan spent most of the day in his room. Changbin had left his phone on the nightstand before . . . well. Chan couldn't keep himself from picking it up. The screen lit up, battery still high. Chan’s phone had died a few days ago, but it had barely had any percentage left when he got here. Changbin’s, on the other hand, had been charged every night. Chan smiled wryly, knowing that it was the reason that Changbin was killed. 

Chan tried not to cry as he stared down at Changbin’s phone background. It was a picture of him and Felix, both smiling, happy. Chan couldn’t take the emotions for long, clicking off the phone. Unfortunately, his eyes caught on the note he had set back on his friend’s bed. He averted his eyes, but the memories of the words were already coming back to haunt him. 

Changbin’s letter had ripped Chan’s heart out of his chest. Parts of it were all for different people. The beginning was for Chan. It held his regrets for ever doubting him and how thankful he was to Chan for defending him. He asked Chan to pass this letter on for him.

The bulk of the letter was addressed to Felix. Chan knew he shouldn’t have, but he couldn’t stop himself from reading it. It was filled with so much love, and so much regret. Changbin knew he was going to die. And he was apologizing to Felix for leaving him like this. He knew that Felix and the others were left completely clueless as to where they were and Changbin detailed his guilt in his writing. Chan could barely bring himself to read all of the words detailing his love for someone he would never get to see again. 

The last part of the letter was for all of the members and his family. It was an apology and a bittersweet goodbye.

Chan breathed a heavy sigh and fell back onto his bed. He needed time to just think. 

Lucas stood in the morgue, staring at where he knew the body of his boyfriend lie. 

“This time it will be the end,” he promised. “For real.”

Lucas missed his boyfriend like a lung. He felt like a different person without him, and maybe he was. He was sick of this house, sick of this game. Whether or not they got the killer tonight, this would be the final voting. With only four of them left either they killed the murderer and escaped the next day, or they killed someone innocent and the killer murdered again, and that would be the end. 

Lucas supposed, in a way, this was the beginning of the end. 

Yuta cried. He hated to admit that that was how he spent most of his time, but he couldn’t deny just how _good_ it felt to get it all out. He had looked around and found nothing, not that it surprised him. No poison. Nothing. He felt so hopeless. He had already lost so much. He had been leading everyone from day one, but he was so tired. Was all of this really worth it?

Yuta clutched at the comforter, digging his fingers into the fabric. He missed the other person who he used to share this bed with. He hated that they had been here long enough for the feeling of Sicheng beside him on this bed to have grown to be familiar. 

His heart ached with loss. Yuta sobbed into the mattress. He tried not to think of what had to come next. 

Taehyun cleaned up the dishes when everyone had finished searching the dining room and kitchen. He didn’t want to destroy evidence, but he also didn’t want to leave dirty dishes on the table all day long. 

As he stared down at the dishes he had just carried into the kitchen, Taehyun marveled at the number of plates. Five. There were already so few of them left when they began the day and now they were down to only four. They have lost so _many_ people, so many friends. Taehyun may not have been too close with Yoongi and Hoseok before this, but he had relied on them so much. Everyone that had died had only been trying to make it through all of this as well. And yet, they weren’t here and Taehyun was. Guilt burned in Taehyun’s gut. None of this was right. 

Taehyun wiped a tear from his cheek that he barely felt fall before continuing to clean up the deadly breakfast they had had. 

**Day 7—Discussion**

The four remaining guests all sat in the foyer, silent. None of them had spoken to each other since that morning. 

“So,” Yuta began. “This is it. This has to be the final vote, doesn’t it?” Silence.

“Yeah,” Chan replied. “I guess so.”

“Does it have to be like this?” Taehyun asked timidly. 

“I have no idea what you are talking about,” Yuta replied. Taehyun frowned.

“Enough beating around the bush,” Lucas demanded. “We need to decide who did this. There aren’t many options left.”

“Who . . . who do you think it is then?” Taehyun questioned.

Lucas squinted his eyes at two particular people. Neither seemed all too surprised. “It had to be one of the people who prepared the food. They were the only ones with access to it before we ate.”

“Well it wasn’t me! I have been trying to help everyone get out of here since the beginning!” Yuta defended. “I lost Sicheng!”

“We all lost someone!” Lucas shot back, voice booming and tears brimming in his eyes. “But whoever did this clearly does not care about anyone or none of us would be in this situation. Loss doesn’t matter to them.”

“If you are so sure it was one of us,” Chan begins. “How do you decide which one? If we both maintain that we are innocent, how do you decide?”

Lucas wavered. “Well . . . one of you can’t be innocent.”

“But . . which one?” Taehyun asks. “How do we know? What if it’s neither?”

Lucas shook his head. “It has to be one of them.”

“I didn’t see Yuta do anything . . .” Chan thinks aloud. “But that doesn’t mean he didn’t do anything. All of our guards were down.”

“I could say the same for you!” Yuta defended. “I don’t know how this happened . . .”

“This is getting nowhere,” Taehyun sighed. “Is this really going to come down to a guess again?”

“Unless the killer wants to fess up,” Yuta says pointedly. 

“That doesn’t seem likely,” Lucas says dryly. 

“I hate this,” Chan commented. “I couldn’t find any evidence so we are stuck guessing again.”

“None of us found anything,” Lucas replied. “But, if you think about it, our chances are better now than they have ever been if this really is just a guess.”

“That’s . . . a very cold way to view this,” Taehyun pointed out. No one replied. 

**Day 7—Voting**

“Voting time!” their host sang over the intercom. “Maybe you will finally catch me. Your chances are high!” He laughed. 

Deep down, all of them hated just how distant they had grown. It was terrible, having to doubt each other like this, but they were scared. After what happened that morning, they were all terrified of the people around them; there was no room for trust.

All of the guests hated having to guess, but they knew that Lucas and their host were right; their chances of finally killing the murderer were high.

“All votes have been entered.”

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“There appears to have been a tie,” the voice announces. “Two guests have received the same number of votes” No one was particularly surprised, but something like this had not happened since the first night of voting and it was nerve racking. “Yuta and Chan. One of the two guests will be randomly selected for execution.”

“Random,” Lucas breathed. “Of course. It’s only fitting.”

“If only we knew,” Taehyun wailed sorrowfully. 

“And the lucky winner is . . .” The remaining guests held their breath. “Yuta. May you rest in peace.”

Yuta let out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding. “I really tried to help you,” he said hopelessly. “I’m sorry I couldn’t help you all get out of here.”

Yuta didn’t want to cry in his final moments, but he couldn’t help it. The shock came before he even had the chance to be afraid and, just like that, he was gone. 

The other guests looked between each other. 

“It’s over now, right? It had to be him, right?” Taehyun asked, scared. 

“It had to be.” Lucas’s words were meant to be comforting, but none of them felt good about their decision. 

Lucas and Chan took the body to the basement, returning to the foyer to see Taehyun waiting for them. They all looked between each other, to the furrowed brows and downturned lips, and knew they weren’t alone. They had all felt loss; they had all endured this together. And this was finally the end. It had to be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so, I have a very important question. I have been toying with the idea of making a sequel to this series but with a little bit of a spin. If I were to do so I would love for some character recommendations. If I were to make this sequel, who would you want to see in it?  
Pretty please leave me some of your biases in the comments. I know a lot of groups (more than just the ones in this, including some predebut groups), so feel free to leave your favorites from any (though I think I would like to stick to boy groups). I make no promises on who will make it into the sequel if there is one (it depends on who I know, the number of people I have participate, who I think I can write, and I will also be putting in some characters for plot purposes), but I would appreciate the recommendations.  
Thank you!


	19. Chapter XVIII: The End Draws Near

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter number has been revealed! The murderer will be revealed in the next chapter, so this will is your last chance to guess.

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He sat on the couch with the other two guests, talking, but not about much. They were too scared to talk about what had happened, too scared to hope towards the future, too scared to hope that their friend that they had just killed was a murderer. 

“I need some time alone. I’ll . . . see you in the morning, I guess,” one of the guests sighed before heading to his room. Now there were two. 

“I think I will go and grab a snack before bed,” one of them commented. The other watched him walk to the kitchen in silence. 

The guest now sat alone in the foyer, left alone with his thoughts. They had just killed another one of their friends, with no real idea whether or not he was a murderer. He felt awful. But he was suspicious, and this had to be right. It just . . . had to be. If they were wrong again, that meant one of the other two guests was the murderer and that was a terrifying thought for the guest to bear. It would also mean that they had just killed someone that had kept them all together and moving forward from the beginning; someone innocent. Again. 

It was difficult for the guests not to fall into sorrow thinking about who had been lost. He needed to look ahead. It’s what all of the departed would have wanted, right?

The guest swiped at his eyes before tears had the chance to fall. He had just resolved to return to his room in this prison when he caught movement in his peripheral vision. He looked over to see the guest who had gone to the kitchen standing in the archway to the dining room. At first glance, this didn’t seem all too unusual. However, upon closer inspection, the guest noticed the knife the other was brandishing in his hand.

The guest’s eyes trailed swiftly from the knife to the eyes of the other idol in fear, adrenaline already pumping through his veins. The murderer’s eyes glinted as he offered the guest a wicked smile. The guest barely had time to process that he mouthed the word “surprise” before his fight or flight took over and he ran. 

Every part of the guest’s body told him that he needed to stay safe, stay alive, but there was this terrifying part of him that just _knew_ that this was the end. Even so, he wasn’t going to give up so easily. 

Sprinting around the corner, the guest realized he was met with two doors, two choices. One he was pretty sure led to a bathroom and the other he knew led to the basement. He made a choice with no time to think it through, flinging the door open and nearly tumbling down the stairs as he tried to keep up a quick pace. 

He let out a sob as he looked around at the nearly empty morgue that constituted the mansion’s basement. There was nowhere to hide. The guest tucked himself into the corner nearest to the stairs in the small hope that the killer would pass him and give him enough time to run back up the stairs. 

The guest mentally berated himself for not even closing the door as he heard it creak open ever so slightly more open than he had left it. He was shaking, the fear and anticipation making him sick. It was ironic, he thought, looking at the morbid room he was trapped in, that he would likely meet his end in a morgue. 

He could hear the killer’s steps as he slowly descended the stairs. He wasn’t running and the guest had a sneaking suspicion he never had been. He was confident that the guest had nowhere to go because he was the one who had set all of this up. 

There was a part of the guest that felt like he should fight, but most of him was just scared. He was banking on his ability to run back up those stairs before the killer noticed him even if, in his heart, he knew just how unlikely that was. 

As the footsteps got closer, the guest held his breath. He watched as the killer finally stepped into the room. He wanted to cry. He wanted to run, but the killer was blocking the stairs. 

The guest felt his heart stop when the killer turned to face exactly where he was hiding.

“You are making this more difficult than it has to be.”

The guest let out a sob. “Please,” he begged pitifully. 

“Please what? You are going to have to be more—” the killer’s words were cut off and the guest suddenly surged forward. He didn’t know what overcame him. He didn’t know what he was trying to do; take the knife? Knock the murderer over? He wasn’t sure. All he knew was that he needed to do something. 

The guest took pride in the brief flash of surprise that he saw in the killer’s eyes as he lunged for him. However, he composed himself just in time to thwart the guest’s final efforts. In the blink of an eye, the murderer was lifting the knife and the guest was stumbling backwards, clutching his arm. 

The killer clicked his tongue. A look of utter distaste formed on his face as he looked at the guest in pity. “You made this messy. It could have been so easy.”

Before the guest had any chance to try and stop him again, the killer plunged the knife into his heart. The choked cry that he let out filled the empty room. He slumped to the ground, clutching at the knife now embedded in his chest after the murderer let go of the weapon. 

The killer looked down at him with a face that held no emotion, completely blank. That terrified the guest to his core as he lie bleeding out on the floor. He had been in the house with this person the entire time. He had trusted him.

As the guest lay on the cold floor, bleeding out from his heart, he couldn’t help but feel that it was almost fitting that he die this way. All of his emotional pains, his loss, the pain of betrayal, were all represented by the intense pain in his heart. The adrenaline, he was sure, helped ease some of the pain, but that didn’t help much. He was dying.

The guest’s eyes drifted from the killer to where the bodies lie. If it was possible, his heart ached more. He smiled sadly.

_I’ll see you soon_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can you place who is who? Who is the victim? Who is the final guest? And who is the killer?  
Thank you all for reading this far! I hope you stick around until the end.


	20. Chapter XIX: Grand Finale

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It is finally time!

**Day 8**

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Taehyun woke up in the morning with a start, breathing heavy. He rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands, trying to erase what he had seen in his sleep. The nightmares only got worse every night. His heart was still racing and he had to sit and catch his breath for a moment to calm himself down. 

He eventually slid out of bed, not feeling much hope for the day. If they had guessed right the previous night, then the three of them would be free today. If they had guessed wrong? Taehyun didn’t want to think about it. 

Taehyun briefly caught sight of himself in the window as he went to leave the room and cringed. He had stopped caring about his looks days ago, but it still hurt him to see himself like this. He looked terrible because he felt terrible. 

Taehyun slipped quietly out of his room and made his way to the grand staircase. As he set his hand on the cold railing, he tried his best not to remember what had happened all of the other times he had gone down these stairs. 

Taehyun dared himself to peek over the banister into the foyer before he made it to the bottom of the steps. When he did, his heart stopped. Pure, hot fear pumped through his veins as he gulped at the sight before him. His pace slowed as he finished his descent. Taehyun struggled to fight off tears as he ever so slowly made his way to the center of the foyer. He looked around him in horror, tears brimming in his eyes. 

Every single one of the guests who had died was sitting in the foyer. It was almost as if they had all risen from the dead and come back to greet him like some sick joke. But no, this was worse. So, so much worse. 

Taehyun couldn’t help the sob that escaped his mouth as he gazed upon the corpses of all of his friends, set up like dolls to look so alive. 

Yuta was slouching on the sofa, arms wrapped around Sicheng who was in his lap, wound still visible on his pale neck. Minghao was sitting on the floor, leaning up against the couch, arm draped over Seungkwan’s shoulders who sat upright beside him. Yoongi sat on one of the sofas, head leaning on Hoseok’s shoulder, their hands intertwined. Tears were streaming down Taehyun’s cheeks.

Taehyun’s eyes ran over all of his dead friends before him; Renjun, Donghyuk, Hongjoong, Jacob, Yugyeom, Changbin. Taehyun felt especially sick seeing the wounds on some of them, still so visible and such a contrast to the seemingly carefree way they were positioned; Yugyeom’s abdomen, Donghyuk and Hongjoong’s necks. 

Taehyun’s breath caught in his throat when he finally found Jungwoo. His arms were wrapped around someone that Taehyun had seen all too recently in a limp hug. Taehyun’s eyes widened as he stared at Lucas’s body, his shirt soaked in blood. 

Taehyun gasped in fear as he finally processed just what this meant: he was now trapped in this house alone with the murderer. 

He almost jumped out of his skin when he heard a slow clapping suddenly emit from behind him. Taehyun spun around so fast that he almost lost his balance. His eyes immediately caught on the figure slowly descending the stairs, a wicked smile gracing his face. Chan.

“Well done,” the murderer sang tauntingly. “It looks like you are the last one.”

Taehyun was shaking like a leaf, but he didn’t back down. He didn’t think he could run even if he wanted to, his feet firmly planted on the ground. He didn’t break eye contact. 

“I should be congratulating you, really,” Chan continued. “One of sixteen. Almost impressive.”

Taehyun blinked away his tears, not daring to move even enough to wipe them from his face. “Why?” he barely managed to choke out. “_Why_?”

Chan’s smile brightened. “For _fun_, of course!” The way he said it made it seem as if the answer should have been obvious. “But it was such a _pain_ to plan all of this, you have no idea.” Taehyun didn’t. “How does it make you feel to know that I was behind all of this?” Chan mused. 

Not good. Taehyun glared at him. 

Chan laughed, taking that as an answer. “It was easier than I thought. You all played right into my hands. It took me a few nights to get the hang of it, but I eventually had you guys wrapped around my finger. Though, I’ll be honest. You almost caught me pretty early on. Seriously, how could he hear me walking?”

It took Taehyun a moment to realize what he meant. Taehyun gasped. “Hoseok.”

Chan laughed. “That’s right. He really did catch me. I thought I was done for before I even really got started. But you all didn’t believe him. It was like some sort of miracle.” Taehyun’s mind was racing. This guy was seriously insane. This was so, so sick. 

“And I suppose I’m meant to be the final victim?” Taehyun asked, though he was pretty sure he already knew what the response was going to be. 

“I gave you all plenty of chances to kill me!" Chan defended. “But I won the game in the end. I was fair.”

Taehyun scrunched his nose up in disgust. “People’s lives aren’t a game.”

“Aren’t they?” Taehyun hated just how upbeat and matter-of-fact Chan’s voice sounded. 

“And what are you going to do when you get out of here?” Taehyun asked. “What will you do when the bodies are found?”

“They won’t be,” Chan replied simply. “I’m the only survivor of a mass kidnapping.”

Taehyun was disgusted. 

“Oh, don’t look at me like that.” As Chan continued to talk, Taehyun’s eyes caught on the fire poker by the fireplace. They had returned it to its original place after . . . Yugyeom. Taehyun’s feet finally managed to propel him forward, carrying him swiftly to the fire poker which he swiped up in desperation.

“Oh,” Chan mused, sounding pleasantly surprised. 

Taehyun rushed to the base of the stairs, brandishing the fire poker as threateningly as he could manage. Chan only had two steps left and they would be on the same level. Where he was now standing, Taehyun could finally see the large kitchen knife Chan was holding in his hand. 

“What a delightful turn of events,” Chan sang before his feet finally hit the floor at the bottom of the stairs. The second they did, all emotion drained from his face and he became cold, emotionless. Taehyun felt a chill run down his spine. His grip on the fire poker tightened.

“This was fun,” Chan sighed, voice now void of emotion. Taehyun gulped in fear, but glared at the other. He tried his hardest to focus, not bothering to respond, but had no idea what to anticipate from Chan. 

This Chan was nothing like the one he thought he knew. The Chan that had been with him since the beginning of all of this had been kind, and caring. He had helped keep their morale up and mourned with people when they needed it. He helped keep them going. It felt bittersweet now knowing that none of it was real. To him, he was just playing his part in a game, a game that he crafted all himself. 

Taehyun’s eyes widened as Chan lunged for him, quicker than he could ever anticipate. He let out an alarmed yelp and barely managed to throw his body out of the way in time to avoid being stabbed. Taehyun lost his balance with how quickly he had to move, tripping over his own feet with the momentum. He felt himself tumble to the ground and he had to remind himself to keep a tight grip on the fire poker. 

In the blink of an eye Chan was swinging for him again. Taehyun rolled out of the way as fast as he could manage, only just avoiding the dangerously sharp metal jutting out from the weapon he refused to let go of. Taehyun could hear his heartbeat in his ears, louder than everything else around him. He managed to push himself up onto his hands and knees. Trying to crawl away as Chan attacked again. 

Taehyun let out a cry of pain as the blade cut into his leg as he tried to stand. He stumbled, catching himself on the arm of one of the sofas in the foyer. His fresh wound stung, but he could tell the wound wasn’t deep; he had managed to get out of the way enough to avoid something serious. 

Pure adrenaline was pumping through Taehyun’s veins, keeping him going through the fear and pain. He had no idea what he was doing and he felt sick with terror, but his body was almost acting on its own to protect him. Taehyun would be impressed that his fight or flight was so productive if he wasn’t about to die. 

Taehyun managed to make his legs carry him out of the way just as Chan swung skillfully once more. He was dangerously adept at wielding the weapon and Taehyun was unsure of how he was still in one piece. Every move he made, Taehyun was barely avoiding him, and now he was injured. Things weren’t looking too good for him and he was running out of options. Eventually, he wouldn’t get lucky enough to dodge Chan in time and that would be the end.

Taehyun may have never been in a situation like this before but his movie knowledge repertoire had helped him thus far and it wasn’t failing him now. He had seen enough thrillers to know that, in a fight scene, he needed to make some space between him and his attacker. The only problem was that Taehyun had to figure out how to do that.

As Taehyun slipped out of the path of another deadly swipe, his eyes caught on the corpses of his friends, sitting around like helpless bystanders to the battle before them. Something clicked in Taehyun’s head as he processes just how doll-like they all seemed. They might all be dead, but none of their wounds were all too gruesome; just enough to kill them. Taehyun didn’t know if he was right in his assumption, but he had to try something. 

Taehyun sprinted lopsidedly to where his friends all sat, getting as close to the one of the sofas where they sat as he could. Chan’s lip lifted in a snarl and Taehyun could tell he was getting mildly frustrated by how long this was taking. _Good_, he thought self-indulgently. Taehyun took a deep breath, pausing where he was for much longer than he knew was safe. Chan made a stab for his throat and Taehyun darted away and _hoped_.

He could feel the air of the thrust as he barely missed his head. He whipped back around to see Chan’s eyes widen, knife stopping just short of Jacob’s face. He let out a breath of relief before his eyes flicked up to Taehyun in a glare. Taehyun took the chance to run across the room towards the dining room. His heartbeat quickened as he heard Chan’s footsteps running behind him. He was fast, much faster than Taehyun. 

He didn’t make it to the archway before he was spinning around, fire poker outstretched. Taehyun almost swore when Chan jumped backwards just in time to avoid the sharp edge. “Space,” Taehyun muttered to himself, like a mantra to keep him going. 

Taehyun took the moment to run back towards the other end of the room, curving around Chan as best as he could and trying not to think about the way the other was keeping up with him almost effortlessly. This time, Taehyun kept running as he heard Chan’s footsteps draw ever so much closer. 

_Just a little further_. He had learned from the first time; he couldn’t stop, at least, not as early as he had before. Taehyun had to fight against all of his instincts and not turn around, even when he heard Chan almost directly behind him. _One more step_. 

Taehyun took a breath and spun around once again, this time thrusting the fire poker out in front of him as he did so. This time, Chan was too close to stop in time, to see the weapon before it hit him. Taehyun’s eyes widened as the fire poker buried itself into Chan’s abdomen, not so much unlike where Yugyeom had been stabbed. 

Taehyun’s hands shook, terrified by what he had just done. Chan’s eyes were wide in surprise. The weapon hadn’t gone all the way through his body, but the wound was deep enough to be deadly. Chan was still holding the knife and a hot fear pulsed through Taehyun’s body. Before he had time to really process what he was doing, he gave the fire poker another thrust. He almost vomited at the terrible sound the weapon made as it finally pierced all the way through Chan’s body. 

The knife finally clattered to the ground by his feet as Chan blinked several times, stumbling. His eyes went to his abdomen where the fire poker was sticking out of him, hands going to the wound in disbelief. His eyes traced up the metal rod to the person shakily gripping the other end. His eyes finally locked with Taehyun’s. The younger was shaking and he felt sick. 

“Congratulations,” Chan coughed just before Taehyun saw the life finally drain from his eyes. Taehyun let out a strangled sob and finally let go of the fire poker. Chan’s body fell to the ground with a thump that echoed in the otherwise silent room.

Taehyun was shivering violently. What had he just done? His hands rose shakily to his mouth as he stared down at the body before him in horror. He had just killed someone. He had just _murdered_ Chan.

Taehyun fell to his knees, sobbing. Taehyun’s head rose when a happy tune chimed over the intercom. “Congratulations! The killer has been eliminated. The doors will officially be unlocked in twenty-four hours. Thanks for playing!” The intercom clicked off. Taehyun took in several shaky breaths.

He managed to rise to his feet after several minutes, legs wobbling beneath him. Taehyun tried not to look at the body he left on the floor or the pool of blood that was slowly forming under it. His eyes found the place where the fire poker had been before locating Yugyeom.

“I did it,” he whispered. He felt that, in a way, he was honoring Yugyeom with the horrible act he had committed. Yugyeom had tried to defend them all against the killer, but Chan had killed him with the very weapon that brought his own demise in the end. It was almost ironic. 

Looking at all of the friends he had lost and reminding himself that Chan was the one who took them all from him somehow didn’t make him feel better about what he had just done.

The tears sprung back into Taehyun’s eyes as he looked at all of the bodies again. This time, they weren’t tears of fear, but tears of sorrow. The pain in his heart was growing by the minute. He was alone in this house filled with death. Completely and utterly alone. 

Taehyun sat himself at Yoongi’s feet, leaning back into the sofa, letting himself finally just cry. He was amazed he still had any tears left, but they just didn’t seem to stop falling. Now that this was finally over, for real this time, Taehyun finally had time to really process what had happened and he didn’t want to.

Dead. All of these people were really dead. He had had a hand in killing most of them and directly killed one. These people would never get to live, breath, walk around ever again. They had all died and Taehyun was alive. He didn’t feel like he deserved it. So many of these people tried their best to get everyone out and he was the only one left. They should have lived, not him. 

What would everyone else think? All of these idols had died and Taehyun was the one to live? Everyone would hate him, he knew they would. He knew he wouldn’t have been the favorite to win in this sick game; the first to die at best. The world would mourn all of those that were lost here and disdain Taehyun for being the only one who lived. 

Would anyone forgive him for what he had done in this house of horrors? Taehyun doubted it. He was a monster, just like Chan. Chan might have killed people every night, but so did all of the rest of them. 

Taehyun’s body was shaking, wracked with sobs as he cried his heart out surrounded by the doll-like corpses of his friends. They didn’t deserve this. Not one of them. 

Taehyun spent most of the day sitting there, on the floor of the foyer, thinking and crying among the bodies. He contemplated sleeping right there at Yoongi’s feet, but he eventually managed to drag himself to the room designated to him from the beginning. He had cried so much that he was exhausted enough to fall asleep almost immediately when his head hit the pillow. 

Tomorrow, Taehyun would be freed from this house, but he would never truly be free from what had happened within these walls.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like some people would be surprised by this. Thank you all for playing along! You are all so perceptive.   
There is still another chapter after this, so please anticipate it as well.
> 
> Also, a friendly reminder that Chan is the absolute sweetest person in real life.


	21. Chapter XX: Till It’s Over

**Day 9**

\-----------

\-----------

Taehyun woke up to the sun. He didn’t dream that night; there was nothing but darkness. Even though he was always alone in this room, an overwhelming sense of loneliness washed over him the second he remembered all of the events of the previous day.

Taehyun picked up his phone from the bedside table for the first time since day one before heading downstairs. He hadn’t eaten at all the previous day and his stomach was growling. Taehyun ignored the foyer entirely, forcing his legs to take him to the kitchen and stomaching a breakfast to the best of his ability. The food burned in his stomach, but still he ate. 

He had no idea what time it was and he didn’t want to know. He felt the weight of the bracelet strapped to his wrist. He finally brought himself to look at the screen to see that it was counting down. It didn’t take Taehyun long to figure out why. 

Half an hour. That’s how long he had left. In half an hour, Taehyun would be free from this sick place, free from this dollhouse. 

Taehyun took a deep breath and walked into the foyer. It never got easier, seeing the bodies. Taehyun looked between them all again, taking in the terrible sight one last time. His eyes caught on something that he had somehow missed before. A piece of paper was tucked under Changbin’s arm and Taehyun’s heart squeezed. He felt the momentary temptation to take it and read it, but he didn’t. 

He wondered why Chan would put something like that with Changbin. Maybe it was something he wrote, maybe it was something Changbin himself wrote, Taehyun would never know. Taehyun wondered if Chan ever really meant for Changbin to die. After all, he had tried to defend him when they all voted for him. Taehyun wondered, but he decided not to think on it too much. There was too much of Chan that didn’t make sense to him and he needed to accept that he would probably never understand. 

So Taehyun sat in the center of the foyer among all of his friends that had helped him get through this, waiting as the device strapped to his wrist counted down to his freedom. 

A ding sounded from his wrist and Taehyun looked down to see the timer had reached zero. He slowly rose from the floor and walked over to the doors. Everything felt so surreal. These doors had seemed like nothing more than a wall decoration while they had been trapped here since they knew there was no opening them. The hope he felt now that they would finally open was overwhelming.

Taehyun almost let out a sob of relief when the doorknob turned under his hand. Tears blurred his vision as he slowly opened the door. Taehyun could smell the fresh air before he could feel it on his face. He took a deep breath, marveling at the clear blue sky. He took a few steps out of the door. And then a few more. He left the door open behind him as he took in the beautiful outdoors. 

Free. He was free. Taehyun was outside and this nightmare was actually over. 

Taehyun pulled his phone out of his pocket and clicked it on. Five percent. It was enough. Taehyun scrolled through his contacts, landing on one before taking a deep breath and clicking call. The phone rang. 

“T-Taehyun?”

Taehyun wanted to respond, but he found himself unable to get any words out. His bottom lip quivered and a lump formed in his throat at the sound of Soobin’s voice. Every time he tried to open his mouth his lips turned down and he had to stop himself from crying so that he could try and speak. 

“Taehyun, is that really you?” There was so much hope and despair in his friend’s voice and it broke his heart. 

Somehow, Taehyun managed to finally speak. “Yes,” he barely managed to croak out, tears finally forming in his eyes. 

“Taehyun, oh my god!” Soobin sobbed. “Where are you? Are you okay? We have been looking for you for so long.”

Taehyun was full on sobbing again. “Please,” he pleaded. “I—I’ll read you the address. Just . . . please.” Taehyun didn’t even know what he was asking for, he was just desperate. He took the crumpled invitation out of his pocket, stomach twisting at the sight of it. He read off the address. 

“I’ll call the police,” Soobin responded quickly. “I’ll send them to you.”

“No!” Taehyun was quick to reply. “Please . . . just come . . .” He just . . . wanted to see his friends right now. And that’s all he wanted. 

“Taehyun—” Soobin began to speak but he was cut off as Taehyun’s phone finally died. Taehyun shivered, alone.

So Taehyun waited. He stood there, only a few steps outside of the open doorway that led to horrors that Taehyun would never be able to forget.

Taehyun heard footsteps running towards him before he saw his other members. Even knowing that they were there, Taehyun couldn’t find it in himself to move, body still in a state of shock. His friends almost knocked him over as they tacked him in a giant hug. Taehyun shook under their collective embrace.

It took Taehyun too long to finally remember how to move, to not just stare ahead into nothing. He blinked rapidly, arms finally raising to wrap around his other four members. 

“Taehyun, what happened?” Yeonjun asked, concerned once they were done crushing him. “Are you okay?”

“You’re bleeding!” Hueningkai exclaimed. Taehyun looked down to his leg in awe. He had forgotten. His pants were, in fact, soaked with blood. Taehyun shook his head and gulped. This was nothing compared to what he had done to Chan. 

“Taehyun, we need to call the police,” Soobin insisted, voice dripping with concern. Taehyun frowned, fighting tears again, and shook his head.

“Taehyun . . .” Beomgyu said softly with a frown. “We have to. The whole world has been looking for you for days.” Taehyun sniffled. They weren’t just looking for him though. He just wanted to go home and leave this all behind. He didn’t want to have to revisit any of this ever again.

The others, of course, didn’t listen to Taehyun’s demands and called the police. Even though the mansion wasn’t really a place you should be able to drive cars to, that did not seem to stop the emergency services. Before Taehyun knew it, he was surrounded by police officers, paramedics, and the deafening sound of sirens all around him. 

Taehyun felt a heavy pain in his chest and he wanted to cry, to get it all out again, but he found himself utterly incapable. People were asking him questions, asking him if he was okay, but he couldn’t remember how to answer. All he could do was stare back into the house. He could see Chan still lying on the floor through the open door. His stomach twisted. No one had gone in yet, all of them too focused on him, and Taehyun felt sick imagining how they would react to what they saw. 

They tried to take him away, tried to get him away from the scene, but Taehyun refused to budge. He wasn’t going anywhere until he knew the members of all of the groups involved with this got to see what lie inside of that mansion. They needed to know. 

“Please, sir, you need to come with us,” one of the paramedics pleaded. 

Taehyun shook his head violently. “Just call them. Please. All of them. I . . . want them to know. I want to make sure they get to see them all for the last time.” They didn’t know what he was talking about yet and Taehyun hoped it would take a long time for them to find out. 

Taehyun heard cries of alarm and horror as the officers and investigators finally entered the mansion. Taehyun flinched. 

It took a lot of stubbornness on Taehyun’s part, but they eventually did as he asked and called the other groups to the scene. Taehyun had resolved that he was not leaving this spot until he saw them all see their friends for the last time. 

Now that they all knew, now that they had all seen the horrors that Taehyun had, the investigators sat down with Taehyun once again to ask him what had happened. This time, Taehyun answered. 

Taehyun could tell that the officer was skeptical of his story. He would be too if he was in their position. To be honest, he didn’t expect anyone to believe him. The story seemed so obscure and Taehyun knew it was hardly believable. They asked him a lot of questions that made him wonder himself if any of what he had experienced had been real. However, when the others arrived, the reality of it all came rushing back to him. 

BTS arrived first along with his producer and others from the company. Though they were all immediately concerned for him, they were eventually gathered by one of the officers who seemed to solemnly explain the situation. The looks of horror that slowly dawned on their faces were something Taehyun would never forget. 

They ran into the mansion before anyone could stop them and Taehyun could hear their sobs from where he sat outside. It was heartbreaking because he knew exactly what they were seeing. 

Stray Kids were the next to arrive. Taehyun made a point not to look at them as they were led solemnly into the building. He tried to think about how kind Changbin had been and not about what he had done to Chan; what Chan had done to them all. 

After that, all of the others started to flow steadily in until the scene was a pure chaos of pain and loss. While everyone was distracted trying to keep all of the groups calm and comfort them, Taehyun was left unattended for the first time since they had gotten there. 

Taehyun rose slowly from where they had him. They had wrapped his leg to stem some of the bleeding, but it was only temporary; he knew they would have to give it more attention as soon as they got him out of this place.

Taehyun slowly made his way back into the mansion, slipping silently past everyone. He felt numb. He expected to be terrified and, maybe soon, he would be. But right now, he felt nothing. Taehyun looked around at the chaos unfolding before him. Members were sobbing at the feet of their group mates, hoping that they would wake up and be okay. He watched Felix sob uncontrollably while reading the letter he knew had been left with Changbin. Police officers and investigators were milling around the house, photographers taking pictures of almost every inch. 

Taehyun walked around the foyer unnoticed for some time before one of the officers finally caught him and brought him back outside. On his way out he could see officers coming down the stairs with cell phones that Taehyun knew belonged to the others he had been trapped with. 

This time, they didn’t give Taehyun a choice. As he was finally taken away from the horror house he had been trapped in for oh so long, Taehyun’s heart ached. He felt alone. 

They brought Taehyun to the hospital and treated his wound, but they all seemed far more concerned about his mental health and how this entire ordeal had affected him. He lie alone in his hospital bed, staring down at his now bare wrist. They had cut off the bracelet that had been stuck to him in that house, and it felt strange to look down and see nothing but skin. 

Now that he was back in the real world, everything that happened all felt so distant, so fake. He expected to wake up the next day and find out that all of this had been one giant, terrible nightmare; everyone was fine and nothing had changed.

Taehyun’s fantasies were shattered when he heard his name on the television mounted on the wall of his room, catching his attention. Somehow, in this short amount of time, the news had already gotten out. There was nothing about the game, the house, or any specifics, but there was news. All the reporters seemed to know was that Taehyun was the only one of the missing idols alive. Taehyun’s heart was filled with fear of how he would be treated, of how people would react, of what would happen when the public learned the full story.

He felt himself begin to panic, breathing quickening. His hands clawed at the sheets as his thoughts took a dark turn, towards the mansion, towards the murders. 

A nurse entered the room just in time to catch what was happening, just in time to calm him down. She turned off the television and assured him that he was okay. Taehyun cried, something like relief flooding through his system. 

A moment later, someone Taehyun recognized to be one of the investigators from the mansion entered the room. He sat next to the bed and looked Taehyun in the eyes. 

“We . . .” the investigator began carefully, sensing just how fragile Taehyun was at the moment. “We found a lot of evidence back at the mansion that corroborated the account you gave. From what we can tell, everything you said was true.” Taehyun let out a breath he didn’t realize he had been holding. “The most helpful was probably the phone of one of the victims. Renjun left an entire log of everything that happened while he was stuck in that house and it matched your story perfectly. We also found several fingerprints and other pieces of evidence that pointed to Chan being behind all of this.”

Taehyun didn't realize he was crying until the investigator stopped talking and looked to the nurse. She gave him a nod and, soon, they both left the room. 

Just as Taehyun finally began to calm down, the other members of his group all slowly made their way into his room. They each offered him a soft smile. 

“It’s going to be okay,” Soobin assured him. “They are going to take care of you now, Taehyun. We are all going to take care of you. You are safe now.”

Taehyun’s lip quivered as he smiled at his friends. He nodded his head, eyes teary. “Safe,” he breathed in awe as his friends wrapped him in a warm embrace. 

No matter what happened after this, Taehyun knew that they would stay with him. He was free of murders and he was safe. After all of this trauma, Taehyun finally allowed himself to relax. He was safe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! And thank you for playing along! I had a lot of fun writing and posting this and I hope everyone had fun trying to figure out who the killer was. 
> 
> I will be making three additional one shots to go with this. One will be an alternate ending because I feel bad for what I have done, one will be what was going on in the outside world while all of this was happening, and the last will be the killer's perspective. So please keep an eye out for those!
> 
> As for a sequel, we did chose 21 participants from the comments. There were so many good suggestions and I wish I could have used more, but I had to set a limit somewhere. I have no idea when I will be able to post it because, as of right now, it has taken us two days to plan the basis of it and the beginning of the first chapter. The concept is a lot more complicated and very time consuming to plan, but I really want to make, even if I have no idea when it will come out. So, watch out for that too I guess. 
> 
> Thank you all for reading!
> 
> I decided to add the links for the other works down here as I finish them, but they will also all be added to a Dollhouse series. You could also just watch my account for them. Here:
> 
> [Alternate Ending](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24120037)
> 
> [Outside the Dollhouse](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24275116)
> 
> [Murderer's Perspective](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26415421)


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